A +u A> "Ca ~v - - - *K A> 




THE STEPHENSON FAMILY 



B> J. C STEPHENSON 




ft 









DEDICATION. 

To Martha Ann Tyler, nee Stephenson, 
of Mount Hope, Alabama, a grandmother 
and great-grandmother, and Margaret Me- 
lissa Bell, nee Lewis, of Rodman, South 
Carolina, a young mother, both direct de- 
scendants of Henry Stephenson, of Rox- 
burgh County, Scotland, and Robert 
Stephenson, ' of County Antrim, Ireland, 
and William Stephenson, a Revolutionary 
soldier, of Chester County, South Carolina, 
1776 — the former through Hugh W. Ste- 
phenson, of Maury County, Tennessee, and 
Rev. John Campbell Stephenson, of Mi 
Hope, Alabama, and the latter through 
Daniel Green Stephenson {called "Stin- 
son") , of Chester County, South Carolina, 
and Eliza C. Lewis, nee Stephenson, of 
Rodman, South Carolina, this little Book 
is respectfully dedicated. 



PREFACE. 

Want of a knowledge of the history of my ancestors and their 
families induces me to write this genealogical sketch. I am of 
the opinion that many of us do not know the names of all our 
parents' brothers and sisters, to say nothing of our grand- 
parents' brothers and sisters. This ought not to be .the case. 
If some one of the Stephenson family, one hundred and twenty- 
five years ago, had written something similar to this little work, 
it would now be of very great interest to generations of de- 
scendants. If I had now a written statement in regard to the 
life, manners, customs, names and place of residence of my 
ancestors and it would afford me a source of informa- 

tion which Is forevei lost. 

It is not necessary that such a statement should be printed, 
but written in order to preserve the chirography of the writer. 
The paper might be pasted in \his history, or placed in the 
family Bible with the family records. Thus it could be pre- 
served for ages. Every day that passes, the paper will be one 
day older, and the older the paper becomes the more value is 
attached to it. The paper never dies. L Ider it becomes 

the more lively it grows in interest. I suspect this booklet will 
be read a hundred years hence. 

It will be impossible in a book of this size to mention even 
the names of all the relatives with whom I am personally ac- 
quainted. But I would advise that each relative paste some 
blank leaves in his book, on which h ie names, and 

such family history as \, ish. 

His writing, with what the book contains, will make the 
genealogical sketch of his pwn family tolerably complete. 

I hope that some one of the relatives will rewrite, revise and 
enlarge this little Book, give a fuller history of the various fami- 
lies; also give a history of the country which the ancestors 
occupied and of the times in which they lived. A very extensive 
and interesting Book could be written on this line. 



6 PREFACE. 

THE PLAN OF THE WORK. 
The ancestors, or parent stock, will be considered, then their 
•en and grandchildren in rotation, down to the present time, 
in like manner with the rest. But the European relatives will 
not be so considered. 

J. C. STEPHENSON, 
■; McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennc; 

January, 1906. 



SECTION I. 



I, J. C. Stephenson, the fifth son and the sixth child 
of William Watson Stephenson and his wife, Melinda 
Johnston, late residents of Lawrence County, Alabama, 
am about to write a short genealogical sketch of my 
ancestors; also of some of their descendants. This 
is made at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the year 1905, 
after the writer had passed his eighty-third birthday. 
Bat it is not to be inferred that he was at the time of 
writing eighty-three years old. 

To trace the genealogy of ancestors long since dead, 
without records, is an undertaking attended by many 
difficulties and some uncertainties. Young peop! 
not care for nor appreciate the importance of genea- 
logical history, but when the young have become old, 
they in vain seek such history. But the sources of 
information I might have obtained 

such history have been removed. Old p^onle. after 
death, tell no history, unless it be found on their tomb- 
stones. Would that I had made inquiry when I might 
have done so with much profit in knowledge. 

As far back as we can trace our forefathers is to 
Henry Stephenson, a shepherd, who was born about 
the year 1698. The first part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, he lived at Ricalton, in the parish of Oxnam, 
Roxburgh County, Scotland, six miles from the city 
of Jedburgh. There are some conflicting accounts as 
to the members of his family. But all accounts agree 
that he reared six children, and that Robert was the 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

oldest, and Henry, born 1745, was the youngest son. 

One account is that Henry Stephenson reared six 1 

Robert, the date of whose birth is not known, nor is 

there any record to be found by which the date of his 

h can be ascertained, was the oldest. The names 

of the next four sons of Henry Stephenson are not 

known, nor the dates of their birth. But the sixth 

son of Henry Stephenson was born at Bloody Laws and 

ized February 27, 1745, in Qxnam church. The 

family were Presbyterians. The son, Henry, remained 

in Scotland. He was a tailor. From circumstances 

it is indicated that Robert, Henry's oldest son, was 

tr 1723, Another account is that 

Henry Stephenson reared four sons and two daugh I 

This accounl Robert the oldest, and Henry the 

sons of Henry Stephenson of Ricalton, 

and. This account makes Robert the oldest son 

gives the date of Henry's baptism the same as the 

there were two sisters and 
iid it gives their names and the d 
their births except in the case of Robert, 
►unt makes Jane, the second 1736. It is 

'rally believed the first account is the correct one. 
There is also an account of a John Stephenson, who 
reared a family about the same time and in the si 

The names of John's children are common to 
the Stephenson name then and now. He most likely 
was a brother to Henry. 

There has been much search made in Ayrshire and 
Roxburgh Counties, Scotland, the former home of the 
Stephenson s, for the history of the ancestors of George 
Stephenson, since he became celebrated as the builder 
and promoter of the first locomotive engine and rail- 
road in the world. But meager results have followed 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 9 

the investigations. Robert Stephenson, Henry's son. 
will be designated as Robert Stephenson, 1st, and his 
son, Robert, as Robert Stephenson, 2d. 

One noted characteristic of the Stephenson family 
is a lack of clannishness. They are possessed of an 
independent pioneering spirit. They have no c] 
for fame. The young men leave home when they be- 
e of age and "paddle their own canoes," neglect- 
ing their old hoi 1 associates in too great a de- 
gree. Robert Stephenson, 1st, seems to have been that 
sort of a man, and his child issessed of the same 
disposition. The same traits attach to their descend- 
ants in America to this day. When Robert, 1st, \ 
to manhood he disappeared. He is next found 
Ballymoney, in County Antrim, in the north part of 
Ireland. This was & . He was then a young 
married man, and living on a small farm. 

Circumstances indicate that the second son o 
Stephenson, the shepherd, was James Stephenson, and 

little farm, near to his older 
land. He a family 

Fames* &< - it the 

ttled ii 
Carolin; idler* their kinspeople hao 

772. There was a descendant of this James 
Stephenson, by name Robert Stephenson, living near 
Winnsboro, South Carolina. He was a v tall 

and strong man. He was six feet and nine Inches 
high, and known as the strongest man in the 
country. Ii. a quiet, peaceable man. He was 

known in his neighborhood Long Robert Stevenson. 
as an exemplary man, and a very highly ?s maed 
citizen. One of his sons, Robert Milton S n, is 

an Associate Reformed Pres- .He 



10 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

lives with his gentle, affectionate wife and interesting 
children at Clover, in the northern part of York County, 
South Carolina. He has in his charge three churches. 
He is a man of splendid Christian character, a good pas- 
tor, and a very excellent man in his callh Ldihg 
i » s chur- ! 1 as in his co m m u n ity a n d S I 
The name Stephenson originally was spelled with 
"ph," but sometimes "v" is used and sometimes it is 
spelled "Stee'nson" and sometimes "Stinson." All thest, 
variations are used for and by different families of the 
same name and origin. The Stephensons on Rocky 
Creek, in Chester : known as Stinsons. 
Stmson is the Scottish vernacular for Stepl 

*am Stephenson, my great-grandfather, and his 

her, Capt. James Si a, were enrolled in the 

Colonial army from South Cai i s William and 
James Stinson. But the proper and original spelling 
was Stephenson. 

Robert Stephenson, 1st, reared a family of five chil- 
dren, three sons and two daughters 4 , at Ballymoney, 
Ireland. \\ olxlesl my great-gran d+'ather, 

born about 1744 ; James was born 1746 ; Elizabeth 
born 1748; N as born 1750, and Robert 

born 1752. The early history of this family is not 
well known by historians, prior to the year 1773. But 

r George Stephenson, the son of Robert, 2nd, in- 
vented the locomotive and promoted its usefulness, 1814 
to 1830, the history was sought for, but without much 
result. 

When the children of Robert Stephenson, 1st, grew 
up they joined the branch of the Presbyterian Church 
called " Covenanters. " The Covenanters were those 
"who during the seventeenth century bound them- 
selves to establish and maintain the Presbyterian doc- 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 11 

trine and polity, to the exclusion of Prelacy and 
They were sworn enemies of Catholicism. 
Their conflicts with the Catholics sometimes resulted 
in death. 

During the year 1772 a great calamity happened to 
the Stephenson family in Ireland. The Stephensons 
now living in South Carolina have : that 

Robert Stephenson, 1st, the Scotchman, had a younger- 
brother, named James, living near him. James' 
daughter. Margaret, married a Mr. Beck. It is sup- 
posed Mr. Beck got into trouble with some Catholics. 
Robert, 1st, and James, in order to raise money t 
help Mr. Beck, mortgaged their land and thereby 
lost it. The families were thus financially broken up. 

Prior to this financial misfortune, William, oldest 
son of Robert Stephenson, 1st, had married Miss R. 
Green Beattie ; James was married, and Elizabeth had 
married Alexander Brady, During the year 1772 the 
William Martin, the pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church at Ballymoney, raised a company of colonists 
to go to North America. Mr. Martin was a Cove- 
nanter. William and James Stephenson; their fami- 
lies, and Alexander Brady aT5 

joined the colony. About the time they were to sail 
Nancy, 'heir sister, married William Anderson, and 
they, too, j^ned the emigrants. They sailed for North 
America in 1772. They settled on Rocky Creek, near 
the falls of the Catawba River, in Chester County, 
South Carolina. Mr. Anderson seems to have been a 
man of some means; the Stephensons were not then 
possessed of - 



12 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION II. 



The children of Robert Stephenson, 1st, William, 
James, Elizabeth and Nancy, will be, hereafter, re- 
ferred to as the Four who came to America, and their 
brother Robert as Robert, 2nd. Robert Stephenson, 
1st, was living in Ireland during the year 1772. Robert 
Stephenson, 2nd, who was afterwards known as "Old 
Robert of Wylam," and his father, Robert, 1st, went 
to Northumberland County, England. This Robert Ste- 
phenson, 2nd, became the father of George Stephen- 
son, the celebrated engineer of railroad fame. Robert 
Stephenson, 2nd, was first found by historians in 1774 
dng in a coal mine at Wylam, eight miles west of 
Newcastle-on-i he-Tyne. History says his father 
a Scotchman, and that he cam^ across the border in 
the of <i lulling to a gentleman. But his 

tells very little about him. It does not even give his 
name. Nor does history tell the nativity of Robert 
Stephenson, 2nd, the father of George, who afterwards 
became famous. It is assumed by some that Robert, 
1st, son of Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, near 
Jedburgh, Scotland, went direct from Scotland to Eng- 
land, and became the father of George Stephenson, the 
railroad promoter. This assumption is erroneous. As 
lias been previously stated, Robert Stephenson, 2nd, 
was born of Scotch parents in Antrim County, Ireland, 
about the year 1752. A close observance of his history 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 15 

ried. George was married three times, but reared only 
one child to maturity; Robert, who was as fine an 
engineer as his father. He was a well educated man, 
a member of Parliament, and a man of much wealth. 
He married, but died in 1859, childless. There is not 
a single descendant of George Stephenson now living. 
The only living grandchild of Robert, 2d, is George 
Robert Stephenson, of Cheltenham, England. He is a 
son of Robert, the third son of old Robert, 2d, of 
Wylam. Ann, the youngest child, married John Nixon 
and reared a family in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Her 
descendants are numerous. 

The reason that historians were thrown off the trail 
of the ancestors of George Stephenson is due to the 
fact that they followed the clew, that Robert Stephen- 
son, the father of the railroad promoter, went direct 
from Scotland to England, which was not the fact. 
Robert Stephenson, 2d, was born in North Ireland, in 
1752. My first information as to the time of his birth 
was that he was born in 1748. But from information 
recently obtained, I find it was his sister, Elizabeth, 
who was born in 1748, and Robert was born in 1752. 
He was born of Scottish parents. George Robert 
Stephenson, of Cheltenham, England, now (1905) 
over 86 years old, is very conservative and cautious. 
In a letter to me, dated February, 1905, referring to 
my statement of the early history of the Stephensons, 
as above given, he says, "Your own version of the 
story, namely, that Robert had brothers and sisters, 
who emigrated to South Carolina, is quite feasible. 
Our own account is that Robert had brothers and, per- 
haps, sisters; and it is certainly odd that nothing 
should be known about them; but if all, or most, of 
them went to the States, such disappearance is easily 



16 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

accounted for." If historians had known that the 
brothers and sisters of Robert Stephenson, 2d, had 
gone to North America, they might easily have ob- 
tained all the data they desired. 

Now (1905), of the Four who came to America, 
there are only a very few grandchildren living. Those 
living are Mrs. Hephzibah, the relict of Dr. William 
J. Stephenson, Rossville, South Carolina. She is the 
daughter of James Furgeson and his wife, Mary 
Stephenson. She is a very amiable Christian lady, 
living on her farm in contentment with her son, Will- 
iam Stephenson. Mrs. Ruth B. Cowan, of Rock Hill, 
South Carolina, is the relict of William Cowan. She 
is the daughter of John Brady, and the granddaugh- 
ter of Alex Brady and his wife, Elizabeth Stephenson, 
one of the Four. Mrs. Jane Agnes Campbell, Rich- 
burg, South Carolina, is the widow of James Campbell, 
and daughter of John Westbrook and his wife, Cath- 
arine Stephenson, and granddaughter of William 
Stephenson, called "Stinson," one of the Four. She 
lives happily on a farm with her daughter and son-in- 
law, Mary Frances and W. C. Garrison. Burdette 
Furgeson, son of John Furgeson and his wife, Nancy 
Stephenson, and grandson of William Stephenson, one 
of the Four, lives with Stephen Furgeson on a farm 
near Richburg, South Carolina. 

William Stephenson was commonly called "Stinson," 
the Scottish vernacular for Stephenson. He was my 
great-grandfather; that is, he was the father of my 
grandfather, Hugh W. Stephenson. He was the oldest 
son of Robert Stephenson, 1st, a Scotchman, who 
reared a family in County Antrim, Ireland. He was 
born in 1744; was twice married. He first married 
Miss R. Green Beattie, in 1764. Of this union there 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 17 

were born seven children, five sons and two daughters : 
Hugh W. Stephenson, born January 25, 1765, in Ire- 
land, was the oldest. Then John, Robert, James, Will- 
iam, Elizabeth and Nancy were born. Elizabeth and 
Nancy were twins, born in 1787, in South Carolina. 
His wife died the day the twins were born. 

In 1789 he, William Stephenson, married Miss Eliz- 
abeth Wylie. Of this union there were born four chil- 
dren, two sons and two daughters. Samuel, who was 
born in 1790, was the oldest of the children of the 
second marriage. Then were born Mary, in 1792; 
Daniel Green, in 1794, and Catharine, in 1796. 

William Stephenson, commonly called "Stinson," 
was a man of strong convictions and great decision 
of character. He joined the army as a whig soldier 
in the Revolutionary War and made a brave and gal- 
lant warrior. His life was a very tempestuous one. 
Before he left Ireland he had trouble with the Cath- 
olics. The Presbyterians and Catholics were deadly 
enemies; so much so that their conflicts were some- 
times attended by death. He came to America, where 
he hoped to enjoy religious liberty. But he had only 
fairly entered into its enjoyment when the tocsin of the 
war of the Revolution was sounded. Previous to this 
time he had moved from Chester County to York, and 
settled in the vicinity of King's Mountain. 

2 



18 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION III. 



Anyone who understands the meaning of Presby- 
terianism would know where to find such a man. He 
joined Captain Barber's company. Whenever there 
was a fight to be made with the British and Tories, he 
was ready. He and Ben Rowan, a daring and gallant 
soldier, would, by permission of their officers, take a 
squad of resolute men and raid into the Whig-deserted 
country on Rocky Creek, in Chester County, South 
Carolina, and inquire of the widows and wives of Whig 
soldiers for the names of any Tories who had been 
depredating among them. When they had learned the 
names of such Tories, they would say, "We will send 
them up to a higher court for trial," meaning they 
would hang them. Many soldiers on both sides were 
hung in Chester and York counties. I saw during the 
past summer, a few miles south of Richburg, the spot 
where a brave young man, Joseph Stroud, son of Will- 
iam Stroud, was hung for fighting for liberty. The 
British pinned a card to his clothing warning the coun- 
try that if anyone took down the corpse the same would 
suffer a like penalty. At night a young lady of the 
neighborhood took with her a negro man and took 
down young Stroud's body and decently buried it. 
Honor to the memory of that brave, noble young lady. 
I felt like I was on sacred ground when contemplating 
the situation. The Strouds, descendants of this young 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 19 

man's family, are living in that neighborhood to 
this day. 

On these raids, William Stephenson would visit his 
sister, Nancy, near where Rossville now stands. She 
was the widow of William Anderson, a brave and 
generous soldier, who fell in defense of liberty. He 
was fond of telling the thrilling incidents of the war 
to his grandchildren. He was particularly fond of 
relating the daring and reckless deeds of the men dur- 
ing the Battle of King's Mountain. William Stephen- 
son was a very resourceful man, full of energy and per- 
severance. Some years after the close of the war he 
removed from York County to the Rocky Creek coun- 
try, in Chester County. He was a farmer, owned land 
and negroes, and did a general merchandising busi- 
ness. He hauled his goods in wagons from Charleston, 
one hundred and seventy-five miles. Country mer- 
chants could make more money merchandising before 
railroads were built than now. I was, in July, 1905, 
on his old plantation. The land is known as the 
"Stinson" land to-day. He died in 1809. His last 
wife died in 1811. He is buried between his two wives. 
Rude granite headstones mark their resting place near 
the great falls of the Catawba River, in the Old Burnt 
Church Cemetery, where William Anderson, his 
brother-in-law, a brave and talented soldier, who was 
killed by the Tories, is buried, as well as other rela- 
tives. This cemetery has been the burying-ground 
for the relatives for the last six generations. This 
is a most appropriate place for the remains of so high 
spirited, reckless and brave a trooper to rest — a beau- 
tiful country cemetery, enclosed with granite walls, 
which is due to the generosity and magnanimity of 
another brother-in-law, Daniel Green. 



20 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

The rushing, foaming, mighty waters of the Cataw- 
ba, as they pass over the falls, resemble the roar of 
the thunder and the noise of battle raging between 
contending hosts. When the air is in proper condition 
the mist and spray generated by great waves lashing 
themselves into foaming fury, like the smoke of battle 
ascend in curling columns heavenward. 

"To this grandeur and solemn scene is not wanting 
a dirge of nature's own music, the ceaseless roar of the 
great falls of the Catawba." 

The wildness of the deep and rugged cliffs, the gran- 
deur of the falls, and the picturesque scenery around 
combine to render the spot a place of reverential awe 
and of splendid beauty. Yea, this is surely a pecu- 
liarly fit "place for the rest of those whose spirits were 
tried amid the fierce conflicts of political opinion and 
human passion, wilder than the strife of the boiling 
waters." „ . . . . 

Requiescat in pace. 

I will now speak of each child of William Stephen- 
son, one of the Four, and the descendants of these 
children, respectively. Hugh W. Stephenson, who was 
born in Ireland, January 25, 1765, was the oldest. He 
came to America with his parents when he was seven 
years old. He was a farmer, five feet, nine inches 
high; his weight was 155 pounds; his eyes were blue; 
his hair was light or whitish ; his beard was sandy ; his 
complexion was florid; his skin was thin; he had even 
tempered, mild disposition; he was very domestic and 
industrious; he was kind and gentle in his manners, 
and he was a very affectionate and thoughtful hus- 
band. He was a consistent member of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church, at Rock Spring Church, Law- 
rence County, Alabama. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 21 

Ihere is no difference now between the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church, 
U. S. A. But when the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church was organized, many Presbyterians believed 
that a certain part of the human family was fore- 
ordained to eternal damnation, regardless of their life 
and character. Those who dissented from that hard 
doctrine, and preached the doctrine that ' 'whosoever 
will" may be saved, came, in course of time, to be 
called Cumberland Presbyterians. The Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church was organized by those holding 
the broader doctrine, in Dickson County, Tennessee, 
February 4, 1810. The Presbyterians, U. S. A., have 
changed their Confession of Faith so as to meet the 
objections of the Cumberland Presbyterians, who are 
now going to unite with the mother church. 

Hugh W. Stephenson married his cousin, Margaret, 
daughter of Capt. James Stephenson, one of the Four. 
She, Margaret, was born in Ireland, November 28, 
1770, and married in York County, South Carolina, 
October 16, 1787. 

The following are the children of Hugh W. and 
Margaret Stephenson: 

Ann, born July 13, 1788, in South Carolina. 

William Watson, born October 28, 1790, in South 
Carolina. 

Elizabeth, born August 13, 1792, in South Carolina. 

Mary M., born February 9, 1795, in Tennessee. 

John Campbell, born August 28, 1797, in Tennessee. 

Pleasant Wright, born June 9, 1800, in Tennessee. 

Hodge Lawson, born June 30, 1802, in Tennessee. 

Sally R., born August 12, 1807, in Tennessee. 

Finis Ewing, born November 2, 1811, in Tennessee. 



22 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

In 1794 Hugh W. Stephenson moved from York 
County, South Carolina, to Smith County, Tennessee; 
thence in 1806 to Maury County, Tennessee; and in 
1819 all the family, married and single, moved to Law- 
rence County, Alabama. They bought land and set- 
tled near where the town of Mount Hope now is, about 
thirty miles south of the foot of the Muscle Shoals, on 
Tennessee River. The Stephensons reared large and 
respectable families in the Mount Hope country. About 
the year 1840 there were more voters of the Stephen- 
son family about Mount Hope than of any two family 
names in the country. But now, 1905, there are very 
few, there being only six. These Stephensons, like 
their ancestors, are a pioneering people, energetic, in- 
dustrious, sober, church-going. As the country began 
to show age, they went in search of new and richer 
lands. Some went to Mississippi; some to West Ten- 
nessee; some to Louisiana; some to Arkansas; some 
to Texas, and some to California. When the war be- 
tween North and South came on, they all went in the 
Confederate army. There never was a deserter nor a 
coward of the name. 

Ann, oldest daughter of Hugh W. Stephenson, was 
twice married. She first married William Campbell, in 
1810. Of this union there were born three daughters, 
Eliza, Margaret (Pug) and Mary Ann. Mr. Campbell 
died and Ann, the widow, married Noble Osborn, in 
1826, in Alabama. Of this union a son, Nelson, was 
born, in 1827. Mr. Osborn moved to Mississippi in 
1840. Eliza, the oldest daughter of Ann, married 
Joseph Caruth. They reared a family at Memphis, 
Tennessee. Their descendants are living in Memphis 
now. The second daughter, Margaret, commonly called 
"Pug," married Stephen Threilkill. They reared a 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 23 

family in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. The third 
daughter, Mary Ann, called "Polly Ann," married Mr. 
Weatherall. They reared a family of much respect- 
ability, on a farm eight miles below Memphis, Tennes- 
see. Some of their descendants are living on the farm 
at this time. Albert Stephenson, son of P. W. Steph- 
enson, married one of the daughters and reared a nice 
family south of Memphis. 

The second child of Hugh W. Stephenson was Will- 
iam Watson Stephenson, my father. He was named in 
honor of William Watson, whose name is carved on 
the marble monument on King's Mountain, as one who 
fell on that great and notable day. My great-grand- 
father was in that battle. His home and family were 
within three miles of the battle ground. His fifteen- 
year-old son, Hugh W., did not belong to the army, 
but when he heard the raging of the battle he ran away 
from his mother and took an active part in the fight. 
One of his neighbors, William Watson, was killed. It 
so impressed Hugh W. that he named his first son in 
honor of Mr. Watson. 



24 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION IV. 



William Watson Stephenson married Melinda John- 
ston in Tennessee, November 1, 1810. She was born 
January 13, 1791. Of this union were born six chil- 
dren (my father was married three times) . The names 
and dates of birth are as follows: 

Anderson Lee, born November 11, 1811, in Ten- 
nessee. 

Felix Claiborne, born April 18, 1814, in Tennessee. 

Mary Ann, born March 15, 1816, in Tennessee. 

William Donnell, born October 19, 1818, in Ten- 
nessee. 

Hugh Stewart, born June 10, 1821, in Alabama. 

John Calvin, born August 12, 1823, in Alabama. 

My mother died in 1824. My father then married 
his cousin, Margaret Presley Stephenson. Of this, 
William W. Stephenson's second marriage, were born 
six children, as follows: 

Malinda Johnston, born December 26, 1825, in Ala- 
bama. 

Christopher Columbus, born September 28, 1828, in 
Alabama. 

Margaret Elizabeth, born June 9, 1831, in Alabama. 

Leonidas Ewing, born February 10, 1834, in Ala- 
bama. 

Robert Bruce, born June 25, 1838, in Alabama, 

Henry Clay, born May 10, 1842, in Alabama. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 25 

My stepmother, Margaret Presley, died. Then my 
father married a third time, Miss Sarah Weems. Of 
this marriage there was one child born, Sarah Rebecca, 
born April 26, 1846. I will briefly refer to each of 
these children. 

Anderson Lee married Ann Eliza Campbell, in Ten- 
nessee. Her mother, Rebecca, was the youngest daugh- 
ter of Capt. James Stephenson, one of the Four. He 
was commonly called "Stinson" in South Carolina. 
One child, Rebecca Jane, was born. Ann Eliza died, 
after which Anderson Lee married a widow, Mrs. Ann 
Wilson, nee Cowan. Ann, in her first marriage, had 
one son, John Bell Wilson. The family moved from 
Alabama to West Tennessee, thence to Arkansas. Re- 
becca Jane married Mr. Wiley. She and all her chil- 
dren are dead. She left no descendants. Anderson 
Lee Stephenson reared to maturity only one child of his 
second marriage, Mary Caroline. She married Mr. 
McNeel. She had two daughters, Josie and Mary. 
Mary married James Jason Bryant. She now lives 
near Fisherville, in Shelby County, Tennessee. Josie 
married and went to Mississippi. John Bell Wilson 
reared a large family of daughters in Arkansas, north- 
west from Memphis. 

Felix Claiborne, son of W. W. Stephenson and his 
wife, Melinda Johnston, married his cousin, Miss Mary, 
commonly called 'Tolly," McGaughey, in north Ala- 
bama. She was the second daughter of Col. Washing- 
ton McGaughey, who was our grandmother Johnston's 
brother. After two children had been born, the family 
moved to Mississippi, thence, in 1844, to Marengo 
County, South Alabama. He reared a nice family in 
South Alabama. The children were well educated. 
During the war F. C. Stephenson moved to Lee County, 



26 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Mississippi, thence, in 1869, to Paris, Texas. He died 
October 17, 1872. He was a member of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church. He was a scientific farmer 
and a man much devoted to the welfare and education 
of his children. He lived to see the most of them 
educated. 

The group picture before you consists of the four 
living children of F. C. Stephenson and his wife, Polly 
McGaughey, and myself. When facing the group I am 
on the left; Mary Melinda, the eldest daughter, is 
seated on my left; her brother, W. H. Stephenson, on 
her left; Ann S. is standing back of and between her 
brother, W. H., and her sister, Mary M. ; Ida A. stands 
back of and between her sister, Mary M., and myself. 

Mary Melinda^ Stephenson, the oldest daughter of 
F. C. Stephenson and his wife, was born October 5, 
1835. She was a sprightly girl; she was very fair, 
had a clear, white complexion, sky-blue eyes and as 
pretty red hair as I ever saw. She walked like a 
queen. She was educated at Dayton, Alabama. She, 
after her father moved to Mississippi, during the war, 
married her cousin, Dekalb McGaughey. They have 
one child, a son, Jefferson McGaughey, and one grand- 
son. They live in Collinsville, Texas. Mr. McGaughey 
is a merchant. They have a beautiful home, well ar- 
ranged and well kept. Mary is a good woman and a 
nice housekeeper. 

Ann Eliza, second daughter of F. C. Stephenson 
and his wife, Polly McGaughey, was born March 4, 
1838, in Lawrence County, Alabama. Her parents 
moved to Mississippi, thence to Marengo County, South 
Alabama, in 1844. Ann was educated in the best 
schools of the country. She was an intelligent and 
attractive young lady. She married Dr. W. W. Graves 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



27 



-3 



S3* 3 
< 

ffi CD 
• i° 




28 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

April 1, 1863. Dr. Graves was born in Virginia, in 
1828. He came to Alabama in 1859. He joined the 
Confederate army, the Fourth Alabama Regiment, in 
1861. He was surgeon of his regiment, and pro- 
moted to surgeon in the Confederate States Navy. At 
the close of the war he returned to his home in Mis- 
sissippi. He moved to Grayson County, Texas, in 
1869. Dr. Graves was an eminent physician. He 
lived and practiced medicine at Whitesboro, Texas, 
the remainder of his life, except four years. He was, 
by the appointment of President Cleveland, the sur- 
geon and physician for the Indians. During these 
four years he was stationed at South McAlester, In- 
dian Territory. He served as representative from 
Grayson County in the State Legislature of Texas. 
Dr. Graves was a man of extraordinary talents, a 
scholarly gentleman, a good and affectionate husband 
and father. He died at home June 23, 1894. 

When Ann Eliza Stephenson was married to Dr. 
Graves, she dropped the name Eliza, and substituted 
for it, "Stephenson." Since her marriage she has 
written her name Ann S. Graves. Ann is a devoted 
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
She took great care in raising and training her four 
sons to good, industrious habits. The virtue in that 
Scripture that says 'Train up a child in the way he 
should go ; and when he is old he will not depart from 
it," is abundantly demonstrated in the habits and con- 
duct of those four young men. Ann owns a home in 
Whitesboro, but she lives with her son Henry in 
Ladonia, Texas. She is a patient, even-tempered 
woman, always content with what falls to her lot, and 
thankful that it is no worse. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



29 



There were born to Dr. Graves and his wife, Ann, 
six children, four sons and two daughters. The 
daughters died young. The sons are, — 

William Claiborne Graves, born in Lee County, Mis- 
sissippi, November 24, 
1867. He has a wife and 
children, and is a prac- 
ticing physician at South 
McAlester, Indian Terri- 
tory. 

George Walker 
Graves, second son of 
Dr. and Mrs. Graves, 
was born March 12, 
1870, in Lamar County, 
Texas. He is not mar- 
ried. He is an official of 
the railroad at Hills- 
boro, Texas. 

Henry Lee, the third w . h. 
son, born July 23, 1872, 
married Miss Mamie Nunn. They have one child. 
Henry is a merchant in Ladonia, Texas. 

Robert I. Graves, born June 4, 1881, is married. 
He is assistant cashier of the First National Bank, 
Celeste, Texas. These four sons of Dr. W. W. Graves 
and his wife, Ann Stephenson, are all intelligent, ed- 
ucated, good men. The promise for their progress as 
valuable citizens and successful men is very flat- 
tering. 

William Henry Stephenson, a direct lineal descend- 
ant of Henry Stephenson, of Scotland, down through 
Robert Stephenson, a Scotchman, who reared a fam- 
ily in County Antrim, Ireland; William Stephenson, 




Stephenson, Collinsville, 
Texas. 



30 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

a Revolutionary soldier of Chester County, South Car- 
olina; Hugh W. Stephenson, of Maury County., Ten- 
nessee; William Watson Stephenson, of Lawrence 
County, Alabama, and Felix Claiborne Stephenson, of 
Marengo County, Alabama, but recently of Texas, was 
born October 6, 1840, in Itawamba County,Mississippi. 
He was the first son of F. C. Stephenson and his wife, 
Polly McGaughey. Polly McGaughey was the second 
daughter of Col. Washington McGaughey, formerly of 
Lawrence County, Alabama. William Henry learned 
the drug business in Linden, Alabama. He has fol- 
lowed that business the most of his life. He went into 
the Confederate army in 1861. He went with the 
Eleventh Alabama Regiment direct to Virginia in 1861. 
He was in General Lee's army during the four years 
of the war. He participated in all the battles and 
marches to which that noted Virginia army was sub- 
jected. He never left the army from the time he went 
into it till the close of the war. He was at the sur- 
render at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. He, at the close 
of the war, like other young Confederate soldiers, pen- 
niless, returned to his home in Mississippi. Henry 
farmed for four years. October 24, 1869, he married 
Miss Emma J. Stovall, daughter of George W. Stovall, 
of Lee County, Mississippi. At the close of the year 
1869, he moved to Paris, Texas. There he entered the 
drug business as clerk. In 1877, he moved to Whites- 
boro, Texas, and still acted as clerk in a drug store. 
In 1885 he went to Collinsville, Texas, and commenced 
business on his own account, where he is now a suc- 
cessful merchant. To him and his wife have been 
born eleven children, six sons and five daughters. 
Three of the sons died in infancy. The other three sons 
having received a good business education, are actively 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 31 

employed in business. The daughters are well edu- 
cated. 

William Henry Stephenson and his entire family are 
active, useful members of the Cumberland Presbyte- 
rian Church. His son, Felix W., married Miss Hattie 
Thompson, in 1904. Felix is a Past Master of the 
Collinsville Masonic Lodge. He is a dry goods mer- 
chant, and lives at Collinsville, Texas. Nim L. Stephen- 
son, son of Henry, married Miss Grace Hudspeth, in 
1901. They have a son, Laverque, two years old. Nim 
is a member of the Masonic Lodge. He is a grocery 
merchant at Collinsville. Dick Lee Stephenson, the 
third living son of Henry and his wife, Emma, married 
Miss Jessie Mullins, in 1899. They have one child, a 
daughter, Jewel ; she is five years old. Dick is a clerk 
in his father's drug store. He is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias. The five daughters are: Bettie 
Stovall, Nettie Bell, Mary Catharine, Ann Graves and 
Fannie Edna. As these girls finish the course in the 
Collinsville High School they go to the State Normal 
School, located at Denton, in an adjoining county, and 
are graduated there. They are well prepared for life. 
Of these young ladies Nettie Bell and Mary Catharine, 
having been well qualified, are disposed to turn their 
attention to the profession of teaching. Bettie Stovall 
is of a domestic turn of mind, and prefers home life. 

William Henry Stephenson makes as good a citizen 
as he did a soldier. He is highly esteemed in business, 
in the church, in the daily walks of life, and especially 
at home, where he and his wife are surrounded by a 
happy family. 

Ida A., the youngest and probably the most beauti- 
ful daughter of F. C. Stephenson and his wife, Polly 
McGaughey, was born August 10, 1853. She married 



32 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

W. J. Provine. They reared six children, three sons 
and three daughters. They have a nice home in 
Whitesboro, Texas. They are surrounded by all the 
comforts that home could desire. Mr. Provine is a 
lumberman and has been successful in the business. 

Another daughter of F. C. Stephenson, Carrie, mar- 
ried Mr. Williams. One son was born. Carrie died. 
Her son is a well-to-do ranchman near Gatesville, 
Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 33 



SECTION V. 



Mary Ann, called "Polly Ann," the eldest daughter 
of W. W. Stephenson, married her cousin, Ashley 
Elliott Stephenson, a grandson of Capt. James Ste- 
phenson, one of the Four. They reared a family at La 
Grange, Alabama. Mary Ann was my only full sister. 
She was an extraordinary woman, a noble, Christian 
lady, one of the most provident mothers I ever knew. 
She was a model as a housekeeper, and had the talent 
of making a little, either in dry goods or in provisions, 
go a long way. She kept her children neat and pre- 
sentable and was quite economical withal. Josephine, 
their daughter, married Robert D. McGaughey, of Pine 
Bluff, Arkansas. One daughter, Alma, was born. 
Josephine died. Her daughter, Alma, married John 
Hohmann, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 

Hugh Johnston, son of A. E. Stephenson and his 
wife, Mary Ann, married Miss Mary Eliza Smith, near 
Concord, Lawrence County, Alabama. She was a 
noble, good woman, an industrious, Christian lady. 
They reared a respectable, nice, intelligent family of 
girls and boys; eight fine girls and three boys. Mar- 
garet May married John Conklin. They live in Louis- 
iana. Eva Josephine married Frank N. Julian, the 
editor of the North Alabamian, Tuscumbia, Alabama. 
They have two children. Who would not say they are 
the nicest, their father being an editor? Ella Thomas 

3 



34 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

married Henry Lee Halsey. Mr. Haisey is a merchant 
at Tuscumbia, Alabama. They have a sprightly little 
boy. Donald Reagan married Miss Hattie Orman, of 
Russellville, Alabama. They live in Louisiana. Hugh 
William is not married. He lives at Tuscumbia. 

Mary Susan married James Curtis Fennel, a farmer 
near Leighton, Alabama. Two children, Annie Chris- 
tian and Ned Stephenson, are at home with their 
mother. Hugh J. Stephenson died in Russellville. He 
was merchandising. The widow, Mrs. Mary E. Ste- 
phenson, is spending her life in caring for and educat- 
ing her children. Annie, daughter of A. E. and Polly 
Ann Stephenson, married Mr. Reagan. One child, 
George, was born. Annie died. Her son, George Rea- 
gan, lives in Arkansas. 

Mary Elliott, last child of A. E. and Mary Ann 
Stephenson, married her sister's widower, Robert D. 
McGaughey. She died in the winter of 1904, leaving four 
children in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A. E. and Mary Ann 
had other daughters, but they died without posterity. 

William Newton Stephenson, son of A. E. and Mary 
Ann Stephenson, older than the two sisters last men- 
tioned, married Miss Jennie Robinson, a very intel- 
ligent lady. They unfortunately have no children, but 
the little pet dogs and cats fare the better by it. They 
live at Leighton, Alabama, and own a farm near by. 

William Donnell Stephenson, the third son of W. W. 
Stephenson and his wife, Malinda Johnston, graduated 
at LaGrange College, Alabama, in 1847. He married 
Miss Mary Rand, near Leighton, Alabama. He be- 
came a practicing physician. His wife and two chil- 
dren died in Alabama. He went to Jefferson, Texas, in 
1852. He was a successful physician. December, 185:J, 
he married Miss Martha Jane Mason, in Marshall, 



1 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 35 

Texas. A daughter, Tweatie, was born. He died in 
1855. Tweatie grew up highly educated. She married 
Bryan Ardis, of Shreveport, Louisiana. A daughter 
was born, Tweatie. The 
mother died. Tweatie Ardis, 
the child, grew up and was 
well educated. She was splen- 
didly accomplished. She mar- 
ried Mr. Frame, a wealthy f>™ 
young gentleman of Wauke- 
sha, Wisconsin. 

Hugh Stewart Stephenson, i 

the fourth son of William 
Watson Stephenson, married 
Miss Jane Morrow, near ^ m ... -^ 

Leighton, Alabama. They 

went to Arkansas County, pr. w. h. Stephenson, oak- 
Arkansas. He practiced med- man ' Alabama - 

icine a few years in a very rich malarial country. After 
three children, Mary Frances, Hugh Watson and Wil- 
liam Claiborne, had been born, he and his wife died. 
Mary Frances is the wife of Mr. Carlile, in Western 
Texas. Mr. Carlile is following the railroad business 
on the Texas Pacific. 

Hugh Watson, the second child, and first son, of Dr. 
Hugh Stewart Stephenson, was born near St. Charles, 
Arkansas, in 1854. His father and mother both died 
when he was five years old. His grandfather Stephen- 
son, near Mt. Hope, Alabama, reared him. He was 
educated in the common schools of Mount Hope coun- 
try. He and Russell M. Cunningham are about the 
same age. In boyhood they were close neighbors, at- 
tended school together, under my tutorage, for sev- 
eral years. They both studied medicine, married cous- 



36 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

ins and settled in the same section of country; the 
former at Oakman, Walker County, the latter in the 
city of Birmingham, Alabama. They were both suc- 
cessful in the practice of their chosen profession. They 
are both honorable gentlemen, worthy the calling of 
their profession, and they are mutual friends to-day. 
Dr. Stephenson married Miss Sallie Masterson, near 
Ora, Alabama. They have reared a family of six 
interesting children, three sons and three daughters. 
Much care is given by the parents to the education and 
moral training of the children. Irene, the oldest daugh- 
ter, was educated at Meridian, Mississippi. Claudius 
Owen, the oldest son, is now in the junior class in col- 
lege. He is an intelligent young man and very athletic 
— a fine baseball player. Sallie, the Doctor's wife, is 
a noble, good little woman, devoting her time and 
talents to the comfort and happiness of her husband 
and children. They have one of the nicest and most 
commodious dwellings in that town, and Sallie is a 
fine housekeeper. Her two beautiful daughters are 
educated and interesting, just the age to be most at- 
tractive. The family lives at Oakman, Walker County, 
Alabama. Hugh Watson, named in honor of his father 
and grandfather, is a busy man, practicing medicine 
day and night. He has an extensive and lucrative 
practice. Oakman is in the midst of a rich coal produc- 
ing country. 

William Claiborne, the second son of Dr. Hugh Stew- 
art Stephenson and his wife, Jane Morrow, married 
Miss Eva Clark, of Rockwall, Texas. They have six 
children. The oldest is sixteen. Clay is a farmer near 
Rockwall, Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 37 



SECTION VI. 



John Calvin Stephenson was the fifth son of Wil- 
liam Watson Stephenson and his wife, Melinda John- 
ston. At the time his picture was taken he was over 
eighty-two years of age. He is six feet high, weighs 
165 pounds, wears Number 7% na t;> Number 16 collar, 
Number 10 shoes, Number 40 coat; pants, waist 40, 
legs 34. His complexion is fair and ruddy, hair dark 
when young, beard auburn, eyes blue, temperament 
mild. The first twenty-five years of his life were spent 
at hard work on a farm; the next twenty at school 
and teaching, in common schools, academies and col- 
leges ; the next twenty were passed while merchandis- 
ing in Waco, Texas; the next eighteen years "in di- 
versifying/' as the farmer calls it. He was graduated 
from La Grange College, in 1850. He married Miss 
Mary Ann Curtis Napier, daughter of Dr. John S. 
Napier, of Alabama, in the year 1855. She was born 
January 20, 1835. She was in many respects an 
extraordinary woman. She was five feet seven inches 
tall, weighed 122 pounds. She had fair complexion 
dark hair, grayish blue eyes. She was symmetrical in 
form, and graceful in carriage. She was polite but 
reserved, was very modest and retiring, too prudent, 
if any one can be. She was graduated from Athens, 
Alabama, Female College. She was extraordinarily in- 
telligent, but too modest to use her gifts. She was 



38 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



very industrious and domestic in her habits, a great 
servant to her family. Her last years were spent in 
an invalid's bed, probably brought on by excessive hard 
labor during the war. 
She was intensely South- 
ern. She was a member 
of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church. Alice 
was our first child. She 
died when two-and-a- 
half years old. She is 
buried at LaGrange, Al- 
abama. Mrs. Stephen- 
son died at home, Waco, 
Texas, in 1903, and is 
buried in Oakwood Cem- 
etery. 

Our three children 
now living are Edwin 
Napier, born July 3, 
1860, in Alabama; Mary Johnie, born September 5, 
1863, in Alabama; William Myatt, born August 14, 
1865, in Alabama. 

We went to Waco, Texas, in 1870. 

Edwin N. married Miss Mattie Jones Baker, of 
Plantersville, Texas. They have now living four very 
nice, intelligent children, two sons and two daughters, 
Guy and Napier and Edna and Jean. They are living 
in Chicago, Illinois. 

Mary Johnie married Judge Seth McKinny Walker, 
of Georgia, but now of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He 
is now Judge of the County Court of Hamilton County, 
Tennessee. He has been in the office ten years, and 
his present term will not expire until 1910. They 




C. Stephenson. Chattanooga, 
Tennessee. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 39 

have six very promising children: four daughters, 
Adelaide Mamie, Johnie Curtis, Frances Spurlock, 
and Edna Stephenson; and two sons, Seth McKinny, 
Jr., and Charles Evans. The children are all in school, 
except the four-year-old daughter, Edna. The older 
girls are well advanced in school. Judge Walker and 
family live on McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, Ten- 
nessee. 

William Myatt, youngest son of J. C. Stephenson, 
married Miss Lumpie Townsend, of Columbus, Texas. 
They live in Waco, Texas, and have three children — 
two sons, William Donald and Light Townsend, and 
one daughter, Alice; all good, intelligent children, 
very well advanced in school for their age. 

I have thirteen grandchildren now living, seven 
girls and six boys. They are all sprightly, intelli- 
gent children, well equipped mentally and physically, 
for the contest set before them, for which I am thank- 
ful to our Heavenly Father. I have been for twenty 
years of my life a professional teacher in schools, 
academies and colleges, and passed out the same num- 
ber of years in Waco, Texas, merchandising, and have 
passed a like number of years since, like the negro, 
"jes' waitin'." One hot summer day a passer-by saw 
a negro boy lying in the shade, over in a field, the 
weeds and grass about to take the crop, the sun shin- 
ing very hot. "Hello," says the passer-by, "are you 
resting?" "No," said the negro, "I ain't restin'; Fs 
jes' waitin' fur de sun to go down so I kin quit work." 

The children of J. C. Stephenson and his wife have 
always been very kind, obedient and generous to their 
parents. Their mother died from the effects of rheu- 
matism after having been confined as an invalid for 
ten years. 



40 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

I will here give my wife's paternal ancestry. James 
Turner, Maryland, married in 1710 Kerenhappuch Nor- 
man, Maryland. Sarah Turner, daughter of James Tur- 
ner and his wife, Kerenhappuch Norman, married James 
Smith, of England. Sarah Smith, daughter of James 
Smith and Sarah Turner, married John Champion Na- 
pier, of Virginia. Dr. John Smith Napier, son of John 
Champion Napier and Sarah Smith, married Miss 
Mary Curtis Myatt, of Alabama. They were the 
parents of Mrs. Stephenson. Mary Ann Curtis Stephen- 
son's great-grandmother's sister, Elizabeth Turner, 
married Joseph Morehead, and became the ancestor of 
Governor Morehead, of North Carolina; also of Gov- 
ernor Morehead, of Kentucky; also of Capt. Richmond 
Pearson Hobson, of Alabama. There is a monument 
at Greensboro, North Carolina, erected to the memory 
of Kerenhappuch Turner on account of patriotism 
shown by her at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, 
1780. This is said to be the only monument erected to 
the memory of any woman of the American Revolu- 
tion. 

My wife's maternal ancestry is as follows : John 
Curtis, of Ireland, was born in 1740, married Ann 
Harris in 1759. Ann was born in 1740, in North Car- 
olina. John Curtis, Jr., son of John Curtis, Sr., and 
his wife, Ann Harris, was born in 1760 in North 
Carolina. He married Mary Shaw, of North Carolina, 
and Mary Shaw was born in 1765, in North Carolina, 
and died in 1794. Ann Curtis, daughter of John Cur- 
tis, Jr., and his wife, Mary Shaw, was born in 1788, 
in North Carolina; she married Aldridge Myatt, 
of North Carolina. Mary Curtis Myatt, daughter of 
Aldridge Myatt, was born August 12, 1817, in North 
Carolina. She married Dr. John Smith Napier, and 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 41 

was the mother of Mary Ann Curtis Napier, my wife. 
Mrs. Napier and her husband are buried in Oakwood 
Cemetery, Waco, Texas. 

My mother's maiden name was Johnston. She was 
a daughter of William Johnston and his wife, Eliza- 
beth McGaughey. They came from 1 ennessee to Law- 
rence County, Alabama, in 1819. They were Cumber- 
land Presbyterians. Mj^ grandmother Johnston, nee 
McGaughey, had several brothers. Maj. Samuel Mc- 
Gaughey, a Revolutionist, was, in his old age, proud 
of the sword he carried when he was a Major. James 
and Washington McGaughey, the other two brothers, 
settled in Alabama. One of these three brothers, 
Major Samuel, left a married son in Greeneville, East 
Tennessee, when he moved to Alabama. This son 
was John McGaughey. He reared a large and re- 
spectable family in Greeneville. Their descendants are 
quite numerous. One of his granddaughters, Mrs. 
Mary A. Hall, lives in comfort and ease in Waco, 
Texas. She is a noble Christian lady, and a devoted 
mother. 



42 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION VII. 



Harvey McGaughey Richey, son of Benjamin Richey 
and his wife, Mary A. McGaughey, was born in Waco, 
Texas, June 30, 1882. Harvey is a lineal descendant of 
Major Samuel Mc- 
Gaughey of Revolution- 
ary fame, through John 
McGaughey, late of East 
Tennessee (a colleague of 
ex-President Andrew 
Johnson's in the Tennes- 
see Legislature, both 
from Greene County), 
David McGaughey, and 
Miss Mary A. Mc- 
Gaughey, who married 
B. F. Richey. 

B. F. Richey was of 
strong mind, temperate 
and determined in his 
intercourse with men. 
His education was of a business character. He was a 
leading member of the Methodist Church. He went 
from Cornersville, Tennessee, to Waco, Texas, before 
the Civil War. He filled many public offices in Mc- 
Lennan County, with credit to the county and honor to 
himself. During the troublesome times that followed 
reconstruction, he was for several years treasurer for 




Harvey Mc. Richey, Waco, Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 43 

the wealthy county of McLennan. When he retired 
from that office millions of public money had passed 
through his hands. Not a cent was missing from the 
State and county treasury. It was said that Frank 
Richey could wade through gold waist deep but not a 
dollar would get fastened to his clothes. 

Miss Mary A. McGaughey, daughter of David R. 
McGaughey and his wife, Miss Jane K. Wilson, was 
born in Indiana, in 1841. She was one of five sisters; 
no brothers. They were all reared in Greene County, 
East Tennessee. They were an attractive lot of beauty 
and intelligence. They were well educated and had 
wholesome domestic training. They were among the 
most popular young ladies in the country. Miss Mary 
A. McGaughey has had rather an unusual life. In 
some respects she has been very fortunate, in others 
she has been unfortunate. She has been three times 
married. Her husbands all were of the best men of the 
country, but did not live long after marriage. She first 
married Rev. Mr. Kennedy, a Presbyterian minister, as 
kind and good a husband as could be desired. He died 
leaving no children. She then married B. F. Richey, 
Esq., of Waco, Texas, in the year 1878. Of this union 
there were two sons born, Benjamin Franklin and 
Harvey McGaughey. The former died in childhood; 
the latter is the subject of the foregoing notice. Mr. 
Richey died in 1882. Mrs. Richey married Col. J. W. 
Hall. He died a few years after their marriage, leav- 
ing no children. 

David R. McGaughey, son of Hon. John McGaughey 
and his wife, was born in Greene County, East Tennes- 
see, in 1812. He married Miss Jane K. Wilson, in 
Greene County, Tennessee. After five children were 
born Mr. McGaughey died, in 1845. His wife, Miss 



44 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Jane K. Wilson, was born in 1815, and died in 1850. 
Maj. Samuel McGaughey and my maternal grand- 
mother, Elizabeth Johnston, nee McGaughey, were 
brother and sister. 

Harvey McGaughey Richey, whose portrait appears 
above, is physically and mentally all that his fond 
mother could desire. She is a widow, all children gone 
but only one, her hope of a future name on earth ; that 
is in the manly form of her noble son. Harvey McG. 
Richey has always been an obedient boy ; his moral and 
domestic training has been of the best. He was grad- 
uated from the public High School of Waco when he 
was sixteen. Then he attended Washington College, in 
East Tennessee, one year. Then he entered Baylor 
University, Waco, Texas, and was graduated from 
that university with distinction. He then worked in a 
cotton buying office in Waco for two years. He is now 
taking a three years' course in law, in the State Uni- 
versity in Austin, Texas. He will be graduated from 
there in 1907. It is hoped and believed by others be- 
sides his widowed mother, that Harvey McGaughey 
Richey will make a moral, capable and honest lawyer. 
His intellect is good, his ambition is commendable, his 
opportunities could not have been better. 

The three McGaughey brothers, Samuel, James and 
Washington, left in East Tennessee two other brothers, 
whose posterity is quite numerous. The McGaugheys 
in Alabama were good and prosperous farmers. They 
were of the best citizens. Their descendants went 
West and are legion. 

My grandmother Johnston's maiden name was Mc- 
Gaughey. One of her sisters, Margaret McGaughey, 
married Eli McCain. John McCain, son of Eli McCain 
and Margaret McGaughey, married Miss Lou Hunter, 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



45 



near LaGrange, Alabama. Miss Anna McCain, daugh- 
ter of John McCain and his wife, Miss Lou Hunter, 
married J. W. Jourdan, of Iuka, Mississippi. 

J. W. Jourdan was 
born near Bay Springs, 
Tishomingo County, Mis- 
sissippi, January 3, 1858. 
He was educated in the 
public schools of the 
county and at the High 
School taught by Profes- 
sor Carmack, at Jacinto, 
Mississippi. Mr. Jour- 
dan spent three years 
under the tutorage of 
Prof. Edward W. Car- 
mack. After leaving 
school he taught for 
three years, two in the 
public schools in the 
county, and one year as assistant teacher with Prof. 
Reid in the Iuka High School. He was elected Super- 
intendent of the Public Schools of the county, which 
position he held successfully for four years. He went 
to the Southern Business College, Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, where he took a thorough course and was grad- 
uated with distinction in 1881. After returning from 
college he entered the mercantile business in Iuka, 
where he has been a success ever since. He married 
Miss Anna McCain, in 1882. The Loan and Insurance 
Business Company secured the services of Mr. Jour- 
dan as their agent in 1890. In the year 1897 he re- 
signed that position to accept the agency of the Tisho- 
mingo Savings Institution, Iuka, Mississippi. Mr. 




J. W. Jourdan, Esq., Iuka, 
Mississippi. 



46 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Jourdan has managed the bank at Iuka successfully 
ever since. Under his management the institution has 
grown and prospered beyond the most sanguine expec- 
tations of its stockholders. During the time he has 
been conducting the business of the bank, he has 
traded largely in real estate, both in the country and in 
Iuka. He has been very successful in accumulating a 
nice fortune. He is now said to be the largest indi- 
vidual real estate owner, and the largest taxpayer in 
the county. Some syndicates North, being aware of 
the ability and judgment of Mr. Jourdan, engaged him 
as their agent to conduct their business in different 
parts of the Union. Mr. Jourdan has made consider- 
able money in these agencies. He is an extensive mer- 
chant and banker at Iuka, Mississippi. He is a benevo- 
lent, useful citizen. There were born unto him and his 
wife, Anna McCain, four children. Three of them 
died in infancy. Miss Annie Elma, only daughter of 
J. W. Jourdan and his wife, Anna McCain, is a beau- 
tiful young lady just come to womanhood. Miss Annie 
has had fine opportunities. She is an intelligent and 
attractive young lady. She is a recent graduate of 
Randolph Macon College for Women, of Virginia. She 
is justly styled the "Belle of Iuka." 

Newton McCain, son of John McCain and his wife, 
Miss Lou Hunter, married Miss Coffee, a daughter of 
the late John Coffee. Newton is a farmer and lives in 
Lauderdale County, Alabama. He and his wife have 
a family of several children. They live near the 
old Coffee home on Shoal Creek, not far from the 
canal. 

I will return now to my half brothers and sisters. 
Melinda J., daughter of W. W. and Margaret P. Ste- 
phenson, went to Arkansas, married Mr. Morgan and 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 47 

died childless. Christopher Columbus settled in 
Arkansas and married Miss Tennessee Hewitt. Of this 
union three sons were born, namely, William Watson, 
Thomas Floyd and Hugh Albert Stephenson. Their 
father, C. C. Stephenson, went to the war and died in 
Newnan, Georgia, in the Confederate hospital, in 1863. 
His sons are living at Lois, Arkansas County, Arkan- 
sas, engaged in farming. All three have families. 
Margaret Elizabeth died in Arkansas; she was never 
married. Leonidas Ewing died in Alabama in 1860. 
He was not married. Robert Bruce was killed on the 
last day of the seven days' battle before Richmond, 
July 2, 1862, just at sunset. He was a brave and hon- 
orable soldier, a Christian gentleman. He was never 
married. 

Henry Clay, the last son of William Watson Stephen- 
son and Margaret Presley Stephenson, died when seven 
years old. My stepmother died in 1843. 

W. W. Stephenson married Miss Sarah Weems. She 
was his third wife. This marriage was in 1845. Sarah 
Rebecca Stephenson, only daughter of William Watson 
Stephenson and his wife, Sarah Weems, was born in 
Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1846. She married 
Reuben N. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell farmed in 
Alabama until about the year 1880. They went to 
Texas. After living several years at McGregor, Mc- 
Lennan County, they moved to Colorado, in Western 
Texas, where they are now living. Some of their 
children died young. They have four now living, 
namely, William Watson, Zula Arelia, Katie Hugh and 
Reuben Rush Mitchell. William Watson, the oldest 
son of Reuben N. Mitchell and his wife, Sarah Rebecca 
Stephenson, was born in Alabama. He married Mary 
Josephine Lacy, in Bosque County, Texas. There were 



48 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 





Reuben N. Mitchell and Sarah Rebecca Mitchell, 
Colorado, Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 49 

two sons born of this marriage, William Earl and John 
Arthur Mitchell. The mother died. The children are 
being raised by their Mitchell grandparents. Zula, the 
daughter of Reuben and Rebecca Mitchell, is a very 
industrious young lady, fond of domestic duties. She 
is not married. Katie Hugh, always called Hugh, mar- 
ried Mr. Chittum; they have one daughter, Zula Jose- 
phine Chittum. Reuben Rush, called Rush, is not mar- 
ried. Reuben N. Mitchell is a machinist; was hurt at 
his work and lost a leg. He now is freighting over 
the prairies of Western Texas. He and his family 
are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. 

This closes the chapter as to my father's family. 

My father, William Watson Stephenson, was a man 
of strong mind and body. He was firm and deter- 
mined in purpose; he had a moderate, common school 
education. He was a soldier under General Jackson 
in the war of 1812. He was for many years a justice 
of the peace in Alabama. He was a practical surveyor. 
His neighbors had him often to locate certain lines and 
boundaries; he never charged them for the work. He 
could step over a piece of ground and tell the number 
of acres it contained about as accurately as if the 
chain had been used. While he did not pretend to be 
a doctor, he was well up with the treatment for the 
common diseases of the country. Such accommoda- 
tions were wearisome, but were always extended with- 
out charge. He was six feet high, weight 165 pounds, 
eyes blue, complexion fair, hair dark, beard thin and 
auburn. He was a member of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church. He died in 1869 and is buried in the 
Rock Spring Cemetery; a marble headstone marks his 
last resting place. 



50 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION VIII. 



Elizabeth, the third child, and second daughter of 
Hugh W. Stephenson and his wife, Margaret Stephen- 
son, was born in York County, South Carolina, Au- 
gust 13, 1792. She married William Simpson in Ten- 
nessee, moved to Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1819. 
William Simpson and his family were members of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Rock Spring, 
where the parents were buried. There were born to 
them six daughters and three sons. Mr. Simpson was 
a worker in iron, an honest blacksmith. He was five 
feet and ten inches high, fair complexion, blue eyes, 
and weighed 225 pounds. He was a man of good ad- 
dress, pleasant in his manners, of a fine constitution, 
and uniformly good health. He died of a very severe 
attack of bilious fever in 1840. This disease was very 
prevalent at that time in the Mount Hope country. 

Isaac Shelby, the youngest child of William Simpson 
and his wife, Elizabeth Stephenson, was named in 
honor of Governor Shelby, of Kentucky. Isaac was 
educated in the common schools of the Mount Hope 
country. He was an intelligent boy, fonder of his 
books than of the farm. He was a young man of fine 
appearance, was popular among the young people of 
the country in which he lived. He married Miss Kate 
Wade, at Mount Hope, in 1851. Miss Wade was an 
educated lady of unusual ability. She taught school 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 51 

to assist her husband in making a support for their 
children. It was said that she was the financier of 
the family. Mr. Simpson assisted his wife in school 
and at the same time studied law. He was a Confed- 
erate soldier. After the war he was a justice of the 
peace at Towncreek, Alabama. While he was not an 
office-seeker, he preferred office work to that of the 
farm. He lived in Towncreek, Alabama, for many years 
before his death, which occurred in November, 1903. 

The children of Isaac S. Simpson and his wife, Kate 
Wade, were reared and educated at Towncreek. They 
married there. But now all the children are dead, 
except their son, Albert E. Simpson. Albert, after re- 
ceiving his education, married Miss Hall, a young len- 
nessean whose father had recently settled in the rich 
and beautiful Tennessee Valley near Towncreek. He 
and his good wife live on a fine farm near Mount Stan- 
ley, a few miles northeast of Leighton, Alabama. Al- 
bert is a farmer and also a merchant. He is a pros- 
perous, well-to-do young man. He has a beautiful 
home and everything needful to make a happy house- 
hold. He is taking care of his mother in her declining 
years. It is to be hoped that prosperity and happiness 
will follow the happy couple all the days of their lives, 
and that their children will rise up and call them 
blessed after they have gone to try the realities of the 
next world. 

Mary M., called 'Tolly," the fourth child and third 
daughter of Hugh W. and Margaret Stephenson, was 
twice married. She first married John Miller John- 
ston, of Alabama. After three sons were born, Alfred 
S., Albert and Elam Porter Miller Johnston, Mr. John- 
ston died. The widow married her cousin, Alfred 
Stephenson. Of this marriage two sons, William 



52 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Hodge and John Randolph Stephenson, were reared. 
Albert Johnston died while young. The other two 
boys changed the spelling of their name from John- 
ston to Johnson. They married sisters — Alfred mar- 
ried Frances, and Elam married Eliza Nicholson. 
These ladies were nieces of the late Dr. Felix John- 
son, D.D. They studied medicine, went to Marshall, 
Texas, where they became eminent and useful practic- 
ing physicians. Ihey reared large and respectable 
families. Dr. Elam and his wife, Eliza, had born unto 
them seventeen children. They were both active and 
very useful members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. Dr. Alfred moved to Paris, Texas, several 
years before his death. His son, Thomas Wilson John- 
son, reared a family in Paris. Col. E. A. Dehony mar- 
ried the Doctor's first daughter, Mary, and reared an 
intelligent, educated family at Paris. Dr. Elam's chil- 
dren and grandchildren are numerous at Marshall, 
Texas. Oscar, James and Albert, sons of Dr. Elam 
Johnson, are engaged in the railroad business. Their 
brother, Luther, is a telegrapher. They all have fam- 
ilies. The two brothers, sons of Alfred Stephenson, 
and his wife, half brothers to the two Johnson boys, 
went to Mississippi, south from Columbus. William 
Hodge married Miss Maye, near Brickville, Alabama. 
They reared a nice family in Mississippi. 

John Campbell Stephenson, the fifth child, and sec- 
ond son, of Hugh W. and Margaret Stephenson, mar- 
ried Agnes Simpson, a sister to William Simpson, who 
married Elizabeth Stephenson. They were married in 
Tennessee. They reared a large family of sons and 
daughters, near Mount Hope, Alabama. He was a 
Cumberland Presbyterian minister of the gospel; he 
was a man of great piety and usefulness. He was not 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



53 



an educated man in the strict meaning of the term. 
But he was a man of fine native ability, and was an 
indefatigable Bible student. He was five feet and 
eleven inches high, and 
weighed 145 pounds, 
eyes blue, hair light, 
beard auburn, complex- 
ion florid, skin thin and 
fair; he was slender and 
rather too weakly to do 
the arduous labors of the 
ministry and domestic 
work. He was ever 
faithful, and died in the 
harness. While preach- 
ing at a camp meeting, 
on Sunday at 11 o'clock, 
at Mars Hill, Marion 
County, Alabama, in Hugh s 
1840, his lungs gave way, 
he fell, was carried to the tent, and died within a few 
hours. His oldest son, James Porter, married Miss 
Jones, and reared a family in Desha County, Arkansas. 
Hugh S. Stephenson, second son of Rev. John Campbell 
Stephenson and his wife, Agnes Simpson, was born 
in Maury County, Tennessee, March 24, 1819. His 
father moved from Tennessee in 1820, to Township 
Seven, Range Nine, Lawrence County, Alabama. He 
bought land and opened a farm adjoining the land 
where the town of Mount Hope was afterwards built. 
The children of the family were trained up to indus- 
trious, moral habits. The family were a Sabbath-ob- 
serving, church-going people. Hugh and his brothers 
worked regularly on the farm. When Hugh attained 




Stephenson, late of Des 
Arc, Arkansas. 



54 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

his majority, having obtained such an education as 
could be had in a new country, he set out to make his 
own fortune. Being handy with tools, he learned the 
house carpenter's trade, during boyhood, when the 
farm was not demanding his services. He was fond 
of music, vocal and instrumental. When a boy, he 
was a fine violinist, and would play at night in public 
gatherings for the pleasure and amusement of his 
friends. He went to South Alabama and worked at 
the carpenter's trade with his older brother Porter. 
During the year 1840, he married Miss Anna, daughter 
of N. G. Whitley, formerly of North Carolina. He 
went to Sumter County, Alabama, and farmed for 
eight years. Then he moved to Pickens County. There 
he followed the tanning business for eight more years. 
In 1858 he moved to DeSoto County, Mississippi, where 
he lived and farmed till 1870. He went into the Con- 
federate service at the beginning of the war, but was 
discharged in about a year on account of ill health. 
He was in detailed service during the war. During 
the year 1870 he moved to DesArc, Arkansas. Here 
he first worked at contracting and building, then at the 
livery business. In 1883, he went into the undertak- 
ing business, at which he continued till his death. In 
all these different occupations he was prudent and 
economical, and succeeded financially, especially in the 
undertaking business. He made a competency and left, 
at his death, a good estate and an excellent character 
which is better than great riches. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 55 



SECTION IX. 



There were born to Hugh S. Stephenson and his 
wife, Anna Whitley, eleven children. Two died in 
infancy. Of the nine who grew to maturity there were 
five daughters and four sons. 1. Their daughter, Lou, 
first married A. C. Weatherall, then Mr. Greer, of 
Little Rock. 2. Alice married W. G. Hazen, of Des 
Arc. 3. Lula married Henderson Ried, of Hazen, 
Ark. 4. Willie H. married D. J. Mytinger, of Little 
Rock. 5. Mariah, now dead, married J. B. Jamison. 

Amos Jarmon, son of Hugh S. Stephenson and his 
wife, Anna Whitley, was born near Hernando, Mis- 
sissippi, March 27, 1859. His father moved to Des 
Arc, Arkansas, when Amos was an infant. Amos was 
reared and educated in Des Arc. He has spent his 
life, up to the present time, in Des Arc, and is still 
living there. On December 11, 1890, he married Miss 
Mary C. Danner, of Farmer City, Illinois. Of this 
union were born five children, sons : Harry, aged now 
fourteen years; Freeman, twelve; Hugh, eight; Leon- 
ard, six; and Willie, who died in 1899. The four liv- 
ing sons are of the school age. Knowing the ancestors 
of Amos Stephenson to have been friends and promo- 
ters of education induces me to sanguinely hope these 
four dear boys will be well educated. Des Arc is a 
good town, now putting on city style, and is paying 
much attention to furnishing the necessary facilities 
for the education of its numerous, rising generations. 



56 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Amos J. Stephenson is engaged in the undertaking 
business, a business which, like the doctor's, requires 
the undertaker to move when ordered, rain or shine, 
by day or by night. It is a good business, but a hard 
and irregular one. I have tried it. I am not fond 
of the business. My olfactory organs are too sensi- 
tive to allow the work to be pleasant. Then, it is 
natural for a man to wish to do a rushing business; 
especially is this the case in a hustling city. An un- 
dertaker cannot do any business unless some of his 
neighbors furnish the corpse. The consequence is, he 
is always wishing for some one to die. A wag, pass- 
ing my window one day, seeing me idle, said: "How 
much will you give me for killing somebody?" 

The Stephensons and their relatives are scattered 
from North Alabama to Western Texas. I have been 
much among them, and am of the opinion that I can 
ride horseback from North Alabama 900 miles to West- 
ern Texas, and not be at any time more than 
thirty miles from the home of a kinsman. But, strange 
to say, I was never at Des Arc, and am a stranger 
to my Cousin Amos. But from the moral and reli- 
gious training that I know his father had, and be- 
lieving in the literal fulfillment of the Scriptures, I 
am persuaded to believe that he is training up his four 
sons in the way they should go. 

Robert H., son of H. S. Stephenson, and his wife, 
Anna, was wounded in the battle of Shiloh, and died 
of his wounds. George W. died in 1884. Charles C. 
Stephenson is the youngest son of Hugh S. and his 
wife, Anna Stephenson. 

Hugh S. Stephenson was a man of fine mind and 
splendid moral character ; his life suitably demonstrat- 
ed the moral training his parents gave him. He was 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 57 

a high Mason, having filled all the stations in the local 
Lodges; he was a member of the Grand Lodge, both 
in Alabama and Arkansas. He was justice of the 
peace for many years during his long and useful life. 
He was an alderman in his town council. He was 
an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, to 
which he was devoted, and in which his father was 
an able, consecrated, and very useful minister. The 
following was written by his son, Dr. Charles C. 
Stephenson : 

"To the memory of my father: As a short tribute 
to the memory of my father, Hugh S. Stephenson, I, 
his youngest son, desire to say that as a man he 
measured up to the full stature of all the require- 
ments of Christian citizenship. He was kind, yet 
firm; he was determined, yet not arbitrary; he was 
affectionate, but not too lenient for his children's good. 
As a husband and as a father he was all that could 
be desired. As a voter he always aligned himself 
on the side of justice and right; and as a citizen he 
never fell short of the slightest duty which was im- 
posed upon him. In fact, as a man nothing could 
be said of him more than to say he was loved and 
esteemed by his neighbors and fellow-countrymen to 
such a degree that no official position, no honor, no 
trust could be placed in his hands but what it was at 
his command. What more is necessary to say of 
any man, than that he lived, moved and had his being 
among a class of people who respected, honored, cher- 
ished and loved his memory after death?" 

Dr. Charles C. Stephenson is a specialist, treating 
the eye, ear, nose and throat; his office is in the Elk 
Building, 114 West Second Street, Little Rock, Ark- 
ansas. The youngest son of Hugh S. Stephenson and 



58 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



his wife, Anna Whitley, was born in DeSoto County, 
Mississippi, September 11, 1863. In the year 1870, 
when Charles was seven years old, his father moved 
to Des Arc, Prairie 
County, Arkansas. He 
was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Des Arc. 
In 1881 he became a 
drug clerk. In 1884 he 
attended a course of lec- 
tures at Louisville, at the 
Kentucky School of Med- 
icine. He returned to 
Arkansas and practiced 
medicine for a few 
months at Hazen. He 
then went to Des Arc 
and worked at the drug 
business. In 1886 he left Dr. 
Des Arc for Swan Lake, 
where he remained till 1889. He then took another 
course of lectures in the Kentucky School of Medicine 
at Louisville. He was graduated that year, taking 
the gold medal for the highest standing in his class, 
in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He re- 
turned to Swan Lake, and, after a few months' prac- 
tice, he settled at Stuttgart, remaining there till 1899, 
when he settled in Little Rock. He is now, 1905, ac- 
tively engaged in the practice of his chosen profes- 
sion. 

While living at Stuttgart, Dr. Stephenson was a 
member of the School Board for four years, all the 
time Secretary of the Board. Since coming to Little 
Rock, he has devoted his entire time to his special- 




Charles S. 
Rock, 



Stephenson, Little 
Arkansas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 59 

ties. He is at the present time oculist for the Arkan- 
sas State School for the Blind; aurist for the Arkan- 
sas Deaf Mute Institute ; and visiting oculist and aurist 
to the Logan H. Root Memorial City Hospital. He 
is also professor of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and 
throat in the Little Rock Municipal Training School. 
He was at one time resident surgeon of the New Or- 
leans Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, but was 
compelled to resign that position on account of bad 
health. In 1897, Dr. Stephenson further prepared 
himself for his chosen specialties by taking a post- 
graduate course in New Orleans Eye, Ear, Nose and 
Throat Hospital ; in 1898, he took a course in the New 
York Eye and Ear Infirmary. He is a member of 
the American Medical Association and of the Arkan- 
sas Medical Society; he is ex-Secretary of the Pulaski 
County Medical Society, and at present Secretary 
for the Arkansas State Medical Society, and edi- 
tor of the Monthly Bulletin of the Arkansas Medical 
Society. 

For four years, during the administration of Gov. 
Dan W. Jones, Dr. Stephenson was assistant surgeon- 
general for the Arkansas Reserve Militia. He is Med- 
ical Director for the Mutual Industrial Indemnity Com- 
pany (incorporated), Little Rock, and Medical Exam- 
iner for the New York Life Insurance Company, of 
New York, and the Franklin Life Insurance Company, 
of Springfield, Illinois, and has been examiner for 
numerous other life insurance companies in his time. 
He was for ten years surgeon for the St. Louis 
Southwestern Railroad, at Stuttgart, Arkansas, which 
position he resigned when he removed to Little 
Rock. 



60 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

On December 4, 1884, he married Miss Gracie D. 
Sleade, of St. Charles, Arkansas. She passed away in 
1886. On January 18, 1888, he was married a sec- 
ond time, to his present wife, Miss Laura V. Halley, 
of DeWitt, Arkansas, daughter of John R. and Helm 
M. Halley. Her father was a large sugar planter in 
Louisiana. Two daughters, Effie B. and Clara C, 
have come to bless this marriage. 

Dr. Stephenson is an active church and Sunday- 
school worker, a member of the First Methodist 
Church, South, of Little Rock. He holds membership 
in the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, Woodmen of the World. Knights 
of Honor, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He is 
also a member of the Royal Arch and Council Masons, 
and a member of the Shrine, and an enthusiastic 
Shriner. 

Dr. Stephenson has some inventive genius, which is 
shown by the fact that he has devised and placed upon 
the market a complete set of instruments for removing 
tonsils, consisting of scissors, forceps, and tongue de- 
presses which are manufactured now by three of the 
largest instrument makers in the world. He also de- 
vised a pair of scissors for operating on the nose, also 
scissors for removing growths from the throat, which 
is also on the market. As an evidence of the merit 
of these instruments, Dr. Stephenson has received in- 
quiries concerning them from all parts of the United 
States. Indeed, an order came for a set from Buda- 
pest, Hungary. 

As an evidence of the esteem in which Dr. Stephen- 
son was held in his home town, Stuttgart, Arkansas, 
the local newspaper had the following to say relative 
to his departure for his new field of labor: 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 61 

"This most estimable gentleman and skillful physi- 
cian, who has spent nine years in Stuttgart, sold out 
his property and practice here last week, and moved 
with his family to Little Rock, where he will follow 
the practice of his profession. He will, however, con- 
fine himself to the treatment of diseases of the eye, 
ear and throat, for which he has studied as specialist 
in New Orleans and in New York. Dr. Stephenson 
graduated with high honors at the Kentucky School 
of Medicine, at Louisville, Kentucky, in the class of 
1889, and carried away the first medal ever taken off 
by a citizen of Arkansas from that school, which has 
attained a national reputation for the thoroughness of 
its curriculum. 

Dr. Stephenson first spent a year practicing in 
Hazen; then at Des Arc for one year, where he was 
also engaged in the drug business. From there he 
transferred himself to Swan Lake, and from thence 
to Stuttgart in 1890, where he has since resided, with 
the exception of a short time in 1892, spent in Little 
Rock, and 1897, spent in the Eye, Ear and Nose Hos- 
pital, at New Orleans, and last year attending clinics 
at the New York Polyclinic and New York Eye and 
Ear Infirmary. While here he was examiner for fif- 
teen life insurance companies, surgeon for the Cotton 
Belt Railway for nine years, and secretary of the 
School Board for four years. 

"He is a member of a number of secret societies, 
and takes high rank in all, and is also very prominent 
in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. He also holds the rank of major and assistant 
surgeon of the First Brigade, Arkansas Reserve Mi- 
litia, and as such examined the boys of Arkansas Coun- 
ty who enlisted for the Spanish-American War. Dr. 



62 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Stephenson is a man of pleasing personality, and, aside 
from his professional ability, he is a gentleman whom 
to know is to esteem. Those who are best acquainted 
with him are his most ardent admirers. Stuttgart's 
loss is Little Rock's gain, and we predict for him wide 
opportunity in the treatment of the diseases of which 
he makes a specialty." — Stuttgart Free Press. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 63 



SECTION X. 



William Normandy, the third son of Rev. John C. 
Stephenson and his wife, Agnes Simpson, married 
Miss Adaline Davidson. They reared a family in Law- 
rence County, Alabama. Normandy died during the 
war. His two sons, John C. and Scott, went to Texas, 
and, when I last heard from them, they were living 
near Rice, Texas. 

Sallie, eldest daughter of Rev. J. C. S. and his wife, 
Agnes, married William Jefferson Jamison, of Ala- 
bama. After four children — two sons and two daugh- 
ters — were born, Mr. Jamison died. The eldest son, 
Joseph, went to the war and died in camp. Jack, the 
second son, went to Arkansas. He married the daugh- 
ter of Hugh S. Stephenson, Mariah. 

Katie, the second daughter of Rev. J. C. Stephen- 
son, married Wilson H. Martin, of Mount Hope. They 
reared a family near Mount Hope. Robert, a farmer, 
living three miles north of Mount Hope, is their son. 
He is mail contractor between Mount Hope and Leigh- 
ton. He married Miss Bennett. Ihey have a large 
and respectable family of interesting children. Some 
of his daughters are married. He is doing well. 

Mrs. Joe Smith, of Mount Hope, is a daughter of 
W. H. Martin and his wife, Katie. Mr. Smith and 
his wife have reared and educated a family of very 
promising children. Joe and his sons are engaged in 



64 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 




farming- and merchandising. There are no better peo- 
ple in the neighborhood than Joe Smith and his family. 

Simpson Reed Stephen- 
son, son of Rev. J. C. 
Stephenson and Agnes, 
Harried, Two children 
were born ; his wife died. 
He went to Ennis, Texas, 
remarried, and died at 
Ennis, leaving no chil- 
dren of his last marriage. 
Eugene Stephenson, of 
Ennis, Ellis County, 
Texas, and Mrs. T. A. 
Smith, of Shreveport, 
Louisiana, are his only 
children. 

Thomas Hercanus, the 
fifth son of Rev. John 
Campbell Stephenson and his wife, Agnes Simpson, 
was born on a farm near Mount Hope, Lawrence 
County, Alabama, February 13, 1833. Thomas, like 
his brothers and sisters, had good parental discipline 
and moral training. He was reared to work on a farm. 
He was educated in the common schools of the country. 
Thomas was a young man of fine physique. He was 
industrious and had a good business education, and his 
integrity was undoubted ; hence he had no trouble in 
finding good paying employment as manager of a large 
plantation and the negroes. The war found him rais- 
ing cotton with negro slaves. He left the cotton field 
and went into the Confederate army. He served in the 
Fourth Alabama Cavalry till the surrender. His war 
record was good. Before the war he married Miss 



Thomas H. Stephenson, Boyce, 
Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 65 

Elizabeth A. Hamilton. Two children were born. His 
wife died. One child died in infancy; the other is 
Mrs. Cora, wife of D. E. Eason, of Garrett, Ellis 
County, Texas. Mr. Eason is a farmer. He and his 
wife have a family of small children. 

In 1866 Thomas H. Stephenson married Miss Hen- 
rietta Bridges, near Mount Hope, Alabama. He moved 
to Texas, in 1876, and settled in the rich prairie coun- 
try in Ellis County, a few miles east from Waxahachie. 
In a few years he bought land where he now lives, at 
Boyce, a railroad town. There were born unto Thomas 
H. Stephenson and his wife, Henrietta, five children, 
who are now living, namely, John B., Eliza, Joseph, 
James A. and Henry. These children have not only 
been well educated in the common acceptation of that 
term, but they have been taught self-reliance. They 
have had the best of moral training. They are intelli- 
gent and well prepared for the battle of life. 

John B. Stephenson married Miss Nellie Fay Boyce, 
daughter of Capt. William A. Boyce, of Boyce, Texas. 
She is one of the seven beautiful daughters of her 
father. She is as amiable as she is beautiful. John B. 
Stephenson is manager of The American Central Life 
Insurance Company for Texas. 

Joseph is not married. He is telegraph operator for 
Houston & Texas Central Railroad at Waxahachie, 
Texas. 

James Albert Stephenson, son of Thomas and Henri- 
etta, married Miss Fannie Lee Boyce, a sister of his 
brother's wife. She is a most excellent lady, highly 
educated and accomplished. She and her husband are 
live members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
at Greenville. She is a beautiful and very attractive 
woman. As worthy and intelligent as James A. Ste- 

5 



66 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

phenson is, he has his superior for a companion. They 
live in Greenville, Hunt County, Texas. He is an 
insurance agent for the Provident Savings Life Assur- 
ance Society of New York. He is managing a large 
business successfully. 

Henry, the youngest son of Thomas H. Stephenson 
and his wife, Henrietta Bridges, is not married. He 
lives at Dallas, Texas, and is a stenographer for Dallas 
Security Company. 

Eliza, the flower of the family, prefers to stay with 
her aged parents and see to their every want. 

Thomas H. Stephenson resides on his little rich 
prairie farm within three hundred yards of the railroad 
depot at Boyce. He and his family are members of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is a ruling 
elder in his church. He lives quietly on his farm and 
has a competency. More than that, he has the satis- 
faction of having reared and educated a family that 
morally, intellectually and socially stands among the 
best people of that splendid, rich country. 

John Elam Stephenson, a younger brother of Thomas 
H., was a well educated young man, quite prepossessing 
in his manners. He married Miss Hancock, of Russell- 
ville, Alabama. One child was born. The parents both 
died. The daughter married Dick Martin, a young 
farmer near Mount Hope. After three children had 
been born the mother died. Mr. Martin married again. 

The next son of J. C. Stephenson was Felix. He was 
an oddity. He never married. Died at the age of 
forty. 

Martha Ann, the last child of Rev. John C. Stephen- 
son and his wife, Agnes Simpson, married Joseph 
Tyler, a good, industrious farmer. They reared only 
one child, Minnie. She was as well educated as the 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 67 

Mount Hope schools could then do. She married 
Fletcher Morrison, a very energetic, industrious 
farmer. Mr. Morrison owns a great dea 1 of land and 
lives on the old Dill Bean place, near Mount Hope. Mr. 
Morrison has a good sized family, all girls except one, 
Tommie. One of their daughters married Prof. C. C. 
Kerby, the principal of the Mount Hope Wallace Insti- 
tute. Another daughter married Mr. Ed. Plaxco, a 
farmer. Joseph Tyler died several years ago. Martha 
Ann lives happily with her daughter and has a good 
home and an abundance in her old age. No better 
woman lives anywhere than Martha Ann Tyler, nee 
Stephenson. As a token of my high appreciation of 
her virtues I have in part dedicated this family genea- 
logical history in honor of her. 

Pleasant Wright Stephenson, the third son and sixth 
child of Hugh W. and Margaret Stephenson, married 
Miss Margaret (Peggy) McGaughey, the daughter of 
a major in the Revolutionary War. After the chil- 
dren were nearly all grown the family settled east of 
Memphis, in Tennessee. There were two daughters 
and several sons. Jane, the oldest daughter of P. W. 
Stephenson and his wife, "Peggy," married in Tennes- 
see. She is dead. There were no children. 



68 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION XI. 



Franklin Clark, second son and third child of Pleas- 
ant Wright Stephenson and his wife, Margaret 
(Peggy) McGaughey, was born near Mount Hope, 
Lawrence County, Ala- 
bama, April 1, 1826. He 
was educated in the 
common schools of the 
country. His name in 
boyhood was familiarly 
known as "Dock" Ste- 
phenson- This came from 
the fact that he was 
named in honor of two 
doctors — Dr. Franklin, 
the philosopher of Phil- 
adelphia, and Dr. Rob- 
ert Mason Clark, a 
practicing physician of 

Mount Hope, Alabama, f. C. Stephenson, late of Memphis, 
at the time "Dock" Tennessee. 

Stephenson was born. Everyone called him "Dock" 
except his parents. Thev called him Franklin. 
"Dock" did not have a good opportunity for ac- 
quiring a good education. The country was new, 
and his father was a farmer of limited means. But 
"Dock" had a strong mind and retentive memory. He 




THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 69 

secured a fair business education. He was always a 
good, obedient boy, and was very popular among the 
young people as well as with the old. He was char- 
itable and generous to a fault. He joined the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church when a very young man and 
always lived in accordance with the vows then taken. 
After his marriage to a Methodist lady he joined her 
church. When he came to the average boy's desire, 
the age of twenty-one, characteristic of the Stephen- 
sons, he set out in the world to make his own fortune. 
He stopped near Germantown, twenty miles east of 
Memphis, Tennessee, in the employ of an extensive 
farmer. Being an intelligent, industrious man, and 
a practical farmer, it was not long until his services 
were in much demand by the large farmers of the sur- 
rounding country. Want of space will not admit of 
a history of his career. But it was eminently success- 
ful. He married Miss Emily Camilla Germany, of 
Tennessee, December 25, 1849. She was born in New- 
nan, Georgia, February 2, 1828. This proved to be 
a very happy union. She was a most excellent Chris- 
tian woman. She was a woman of extraordinary intel- 
lect and an unusually retentive memory. She had but 
few equals and no superiors. As a housekeeper and 
in the culinary department she was an adept. Her life 
was a model for her children in their future inter- 
course with the world. She believed the doctrine of 
"training up a child in the way he should go, and when 
he is old he will not depart from it." She did not only 
believe the doctrine, but she practiced it. 

To Franklin Clark Stephenson and his wife, Emily 
Camilla Germany, were born ten children, seven sons 
and three daughters, as follows: Olivia Watson, born 



70 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

November 9, 1850 ; William Franklin and Edwin were 
twins; Millard Alfred; Walter Clarence; Annie Ger- 
many; Margaret Cassander; John Henry; William 
Pleasant, and Robert Lee Stephenson, born October 
31, 1870. Of these ten children, Edwin died in in- 
fancy. The rest were regularly christened in the 
Methodist Church, South. Four died before maturity, 
and five married. F. C. Stephenson died August 31, 
1885. His widow survived him nineteen years. She 
died January 26, 1904, in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Olivia Watson, oldest daughter of Franklin Clark 
Stephenson and his wife, Emily Camilla Germany, 
was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, November 9, 
1850. She was educated in Memphis. She was a 
bright child, a dutiful daughter and an intelligent 
young lady. She was always precautious and is now 
the dependence of all the children, grandchildren, 
nieces and nephews, for advice and instruction. Olivia 
married Robert- H. Weaver September 30, 1868. The 
union was a very fortunate one. Mr. Weaver was an 
accomplished business man. He had served during 
the war in the Confederate army. The hardships of 
the war injured his health. After the close of the 
war he hoped to regain his usual good health ; but he 
never fully recovered. He died a middle-aged man. 
After Mr. Weaver's death, his widow managed the 
home successfully and educated the children. She 
was from her youth up a consistent member of the 
Methodist Church, South. She and Mr. Weaver were 
great friends to education. Their aid in that line was 
felt and appreciated by many of the young people 
around them. There were born to Robert H. Weaver 
and his wife, Olivia W. Stephenson, five children, three 
sons and two daughters. Of these five children, Kate 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 71 

died when a child. Oliver Edwin died at the age of 
twenty-three. The other three are now (1905) living. 

Robert Angelo Weaver, second child of Robert H. 
Weaver and Olivia Watson Weaver, nee Stephenson, 
was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, December 24, 
1872. He was educated in the private schools of Mem- 
phis, and from June, 1900 to 1903, he was a student at 
Vanderbilt University in the academic department. 
He joined the Methodist Church when twelve years 
old, and has remained in that church ever since, being 
now a teacher and assistant superintendent in the 
First Methodist Church Sunday School, of Memphis. 
Since leaving college, he has been engaged in growing 
cotton near Memphis, and in the cotton factors' busi- 
ness in that city, being a member of the firm of W. A. 
Gage & Co. 

On July 27, 1897, Robert Weaver was married to 
Miss Georgia May Allen, daughter of Hon. John M. 
Allen, of Tupelo, Mississippi. On June 22, 1898, a 
son was born unto them, who bears his father's name. 
On September 28, 1899, a daughter was born, who 
bears her mother's name. On July 5, 1901, God 
blessed them with yet another son, who was named for 
his grandfather, John Allen. On February 6, 1904, 
another daughter was given to them, who bears her 
mother's sister's name — Annie Belle. All the children 
are living. 

Amelia O., daughter of Robert H. Weaver and his 
wife, Olivia Watson Stephenson, married Mr. Hilde- 
brand, of Memphis. They have some children. Mrs. 
Hildebrand's health was failing in Memphis, so they 
went to Amarillo, Texas, where her health is much 
better. 

Burchett M., their youngest son, is now in college. 



72 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Walter Clarence, son of F. C. and Emily C. Ste- 
phenson, was born April 27, 1857. He was a farmer 
below Memphis, married and reared a family. One of 
his sons is of age. His name is Frank E. Walter 
Clarence died June, 1882. 

Annie Germany, daughter of F. C. and Emily C. 
Stephenson, was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, 
June 24, 1859. She was highly educated, was quite 
fond of the arts and sciences and had a taste for draw- 
ing and painting. She studied painting in Paris, 
France, and was successful in acquiring a fine knowl- 
edge of her profession. She married Dr. Ephraim 
Weston Morgan, of Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Morgan 
is a practicing physician in South Memphis. He is 
descended from a distinguished Southern ancestry. 
The doctor and his wife have three sprightly children 
— two sons and one daughter. 

His wife, Annie, since her marriage, has changed 
her name from Annie Germany Stephenson to Annie 
Stephenson Morgan, and signs her name Annie S. 
Morgan. She and her husband are giving much atten- 
tion to the training and education of their children. 
Annie is a nice Christian woman, a good neighbor and 
a splendid lady. But she is not such a housekeeper and 
cook as her mother was. 

Margaret Cassander, daughter of F. C. and Emily 
C. Stephenson, was born June 17, 1861, in Shelby 
County, Tennessee. She married D. B. Maynard. 
There were some children born to them. Cassander 
died. Her sister, Olivia W. Weaver, is taking care of 
the children. 

Robert Lee, the youngest child of Franklin Clark 
Stephenson and his wife, Emily Camilla Germany, 
was born near Memphis, Tennessee, October 31, 






THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



73 



1870. Robert was named in honor of the great 
Confederate chieftain. His father died when he 
was a small boy. He had good moral and do- 
mestic training by his mother. He was educated 
in Memphis. He was 
a n intelligent, ener- 
getic youth. He grew up 
to habits of industry and 
economy. He is digni- 
fied and polite, well pol- 
ished in his manners, 
and makes a splendid 
impression on those 
with whom he comes in 
contact. He is tall and 
portly, weighs one hun- 
dred and eighty pounds; 
his figure is symmet- 
rical and his movements 
graceful. He went to 
San Francisco, Califor- 
nia, and there, October 12, 1898, married Miss Alice 
Clay, daughter of Hammett Lyttleton Stephenson, for- 
merly of Bells, Tenn. Miss Alice's mother's maiden 
name was Miss Hattie Anne Cherry. These Stephen- 
sons were not related to us so far as we know. Miss 
Alice was born, reared and educated in Bells, Tennes- 
see. There have been born to Robert Lee and his 
wife, Alice Stephenson, a son and a daughter, Robert 
Lee, Jr., born March 31, 1901, and Cherry, born May 
23, 1905. R. L. Stephenson is a life insurance man; 
office, 419 California Street, San Francisco, California. 
I understand his business is large and prosperous. He 
is the only son of his parents now living. 




R. L. Stephenson, Esq., San Fran- 
cisco, California. 



74 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

William Anderson Stephenson, son of P. W. Stephen- 
son, married in Memphis. The family lives on Monroe 
Street, in Memphis. W. A. Stephenson is an elder in 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They have chil- 
dren and grandchildren. 

Ann, the youngest daughter of P. W. Stephenson, 
married Mr. Owens, a respected farmer. They have 
one daughter and live on a good farm near Forest 
Hill, Shelby County, Tennessee. 

Albert Stephenson, son of P. W. Stephenson, mar- 
ried Miss Weatherall, seven miles south of Memphis. 
Sons and daughters were born to them, who live in the 
same locality now. 'Squire McCain, whose office is 
in Memphis, married one of the daughters of Albert 
Stephenson. Albert and his wife are both dead. 

Hodge Lawson Stephenson, the seventh child and 
fourth son of Hugh W. Stephenson and Margaret, his 
wife, married Miss Eliza P. Wasson, of Maury County, 
Tennessee. They reared a family of sons and daugh- 
ters near Mount Hope, Alabama, where Hugh W. 
Stephenson, his sons and sons-in-law bought land and 
settled on new farms, in 1819. H. L. Stephenson had 
a fine intellect. He, being reared in a new country, 
and not wealthy, was not well educated. He was an 
elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a justice 
of the peace for many years, and a representative in 
the lower house and Senate of the Alabama Legislature 
for seventeen years, between 1836 and 1860. 






THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



75 



SECTION XII. 



Alfred Washington, eldest son of Hodge Lawson 
Stephenson and his wife, Eliza P. Wasson, was born in 
Mount Hope, Lawrence County, Alabama, November 
16, 1826. He was edu- 
cated in Union Academy, 
Leighton, Alabama. He 
studied medicine under 
the tutelage of Dr. A. S. 
Johnson; was graduated 
in medicine at Louisville, 
Kentucky, taking high 
rank in scholarship and 
proficiency. He com- 
menced the practice of 
medicine in Mount Hope 
in 1850. He was success- 
ful in his practice. He 
married Miss Adaline 
Harvey, of Mount Hope, 
1852. His wife was a 
most excellent woman. She was intelligent, energetic 
and very industrious. She was a model housekeeper 
and one among the best cooks I ever saw. Her equal 
was hard to find in domestic duties and work. From 
Mount Hope he moved to LaGrange, Alabama, having 
been elected surgeon for the college at that place. This 




Dr. A. W. Stephenson, late of 
Dyer, Tennessee. 



76 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

position he held until the college was closed on account 
of the war. In 1868 he went to Dyer, Gibson County, 
Tennessee, where he was an eminent and successful 
practicing physician till his death, which occurred 
December 26, 1896. There were born to him and his 
wife four children, three daughters and one son. Bell, 
the first born, died in childhood. Then Lena, Ella and 
Henry Harvey Stephenson were born. 

Lena married Mr. Bobbitt. They have three chil- 
dren. She is a widow and keeps house for her brother, 
Henry, at the old homestead. Her oldest daughter, 
Minnie, married Professor Mount. They have a family 
and live at South McAlester, Indian Territory. Ben 
Bobbitt, her second son, is married. He is a conductor 
on a railroad and lives in Dyer, Tennessee. Guy, the 
youngest son, is in the army in the Philippine Islands. 
How they do scatter ! I have but three children. They 
live nine hundred miles apart. 

Ella, the third daughter of Dr. A. W. Stephenson 
and his wife, Adaline Harvey, married Mr. Berry. 
They have five children, three daughters and two boys. 
Sallie, the oldest daughter of Mr. Berry, and his wife, 
Ella Stephenson, live in the Indian Territory. Will 
Ella, the second daughter, is a trimmer and has a fine 
taste for the beautiful. She lives with her sister in 
the Territory. Lena, the third daughter, is in school in 
Jackson, Tennessee. Her two sons are at home with 
their mother. Henry Harvey, the only son of A. W. 
and Adaline Stephenson, is not married. He lives with 
his sister, Lena, in the old homestead. 

Artemisia, oldest daughter of Hodge L. Stephenson 
and his wife, Eliza P. Wasson, was educated in the 
common schools. She was a very popular young lady. 
She joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church when 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 77 

a little girl. She married James D. Pickens, an indus- 
trious, well-to-do farmer in the Mount Hope neighbor- 
hood. They reared a large family of sons and daugh- 
ters. Artemisia died before any of her children were 
married. Thomas Pickens, their oldest living son, lives 
on and owns the old farm. He has raised a respectable, 
nice family. The children are now mostly grown, some 
of them married and settled on farms in the old neigh- 
borhood. 

America, the oldest daughter of James D. Pickens 
and his wife, Artemisia Stephenson, was for years 
under my tutelage. She was an interesting and an 
affectionate girl. She married Dick McClung. They 
reared a son and a daughter. The son is a Cumber- 
land Presbyterian preacher; the daughter is an assist- 
ant teacher in the Mount Hope Wallace Institute. Some 
of the Pickens children went to Texas as they came to 
the years of maturity. They seem to have inherited 
that Stephenson characteristic of looking out for an 
independence. "The mere fact that a boy nearing the 
age of manhood desires to go away from a pleasant 
home and use his own resources is a good indication 
that he will get along. If he objects to being pampered, 
there is nothing to be gained by pampering him. To 
withhold from him the chance he craves might be a 
serious error. There is no disgrace in hard work, 
and there is no lasting hurt from hard knocks. The 
men who make the best record have not planned their 
career while resting on 'flowery beds of ease/ nor gone 
forth with the backing of a bank account piled up 
by somebody else. There is scant reason to fret 
about the boy who is eager to become a wage- 
earner and selects arduous toil as his portion in the 
beginning." 



78 t THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Others of the Pickens children remained in the old 
neighborhood believing in the truth of the Georgia 
doggerel that 

" There is more in the man, 
Than there is in the land." 

Rev. Rome Pickens, son of James D. Pickens and his 
wife, Artemisia Stephenson, married Miss Lillie Bean, 
a niece of Miss Kate Bean. Miss Kate was a noble 
young lady; she was the belle of the country. She 
married Mr. Cochrell and settled in Texas. Rome did 
not have the advantage of a classical education, but he 
is industrious and intellectual. He is a Cumberland 
Presbyterian minister. He has been the pastor of 
Rock Spring congregation for eighteen years. The 
church has prospered and grown under his care. He 
has a very large and interesting family. The oldest 
two daughters are intelligent, smart girls; they are 
almost grown. Bonner, the oldest son of Rev. Rome 
Pickens and his wife, Lillie Bean, is a very well trained 
vocalist. 

One of the daughters of James D. Pickens and Arte- 
misia Stephenson married Mr. John Roberson, a farmer 
of good means in the neighborhood. They have a nice 
family of children. 

Jane, daughter of James D. Pickens and his wife, 
Artemisia Stephenson, was well educated. She mar- 
ried George W. Jackson. George was a son of James 
D. Jackson, a scientific and practical farmer near 
Mount Hope, Alabama. George attended my school for 
several years. He was a man of great firmness and 
determination. He had a strong mind and retentive 
memory. He was honorable and honest. He was a 
member of the Baptist Church. He was liberal and 






THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 79 

judicious in his dealings with men. He was a success- 
ful merchant of Mount Hope. There were born to 
George Jackson and his wife, Jane Pickens, five chil- 
dren, two girls and three boys. Mr. Jackson died two 
years ago. Jane was left to manage and educate the 
children. She takes great care in governing them, 
and is giving them every benefit of an education. Mr. 
Jackson left her ample means. 

William Argyle Stephenson, second son of Hodge L. 
Stephenson and his wife, Eliza P. Wasson, married 
Miss Mary A. Steenson. They reared a family of three 
children, two sons and one daughter. They moved 
to Dyer County, West Tennessee. Mort Stephenson, 
son of Argyle, is married; has a married son, 
Marvin. Mort is a merchant at Yorkville, Gibson 
County, Tennessee. Argyle's other son, Frank, is 
married and has a married son, Other. They are 
well-to-do farmers near Yorkville, Gibson County, 
Tennessee. 

Harriet, the second daughter of H. L. Stephenson 
and his wife, was educated in the common schools of 
the country. When I think of her attending school 
under my tutelage in the year 1850, and then notice 
that she is now a great-grandmother, that fact inti- 
mates that I am getting old. She married John Ewing 
Steenson, a clever, intelligent farmer near Mount Hope. 
They reared a large family of sons and daughters. 
The children are scattered and settled in different parts 
of Texas. Her husband was an elder in the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church. He was doing well on his 
farm, but sold it, moved to Texas, had much sickness 
in his family in Texas, and moved back to Alabama. 
When Mr. Steenson returned he was financially 



80 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



worsted. He died in Alabama. Harriet lives with her 
son, James Steenson, on a farm near Mount Hope, 
Alabama. 

James Monroe, the youngest son of Hodge L. Ste- 
phenson and his wife, Eliza P. Wasson, was born in 
Lawrence County, near Mount Hope, Alabama, August 
10, 1840. He was edu- 
cated in the common 
schools. He was a very 
dutiful, industrious, good 
boy. He joined the Cum- 
b e r 1 a n d Presbyterian 
Church when quite 
young. About the time 
he arrived at the age of 
maturity, the Civil War 
came on. Monroe volun- 
teered for the Confeder- 
ate service. He made a 
brave and useful soldier. 
At the close of the war 
he actively took up farm- 
ing and continued to 
farm successfully till his death, which occurred June 
10, 1887. On January 3, 1871, he married Miss Laura 
Dukeminier, near Mount Hope, Alabama. Miss Duke- 
minier was a daughter of Alfred Dukeminier. Laura 
was a most estimable young woman. There were born 
of this union nine children, six sons and three daugh- 
ters. They are all married except the youngest son, 
and all live in the community where they were brought 
up. Their names are as follows: Charles Michaux, 
Fredrick L., Russell E., Frank David, Edward Alfred, 
Deaton Monroe Stephenson. The girls are Lula B., 




James Monroe Stephenson, late of 
Mount Hope, Alabama. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 81 

Zula and Mollie Stephenson. At Monroe's death the 
widow was left with these nine children and a little 
farm. n She, by hard work and good management, gave 
her children a support and a good common school edu- 
cation. The children were reared in respectability. 
TJJhey were a credit to their noble, sacrificing mother, 
vfter the children were grown and married, the widow 
very judiciously and prudently married Mr. Ches Rob- 
erson, a respectable farmer of good means. Mr. Rober- 
son is a good farmer and a good citizen, and was 
quite fortunate in capturing the wary widow of 
eighteen years' widowhood. 



82 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILf. 



SECTION XIII. 



Eliza Jane, the youngest daughter of Hodge L. Ste- 
phenson and his wife, Eliza P. Wasson, was fairly well 
educated. She was a very quiet, sensible girl ; she grew 
to womanhood in the stormy times of the Civil War, 




Lawrence A. Johnson and Mrs. Rebecca 
Johnson, Greenville, Texas. 

but she was always prudent and wise. She married 
James G. Dement, a son of an upright, faithful minister 
in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Dement 
was a respectable farmer in Limestone County, Ala- 
bama. They reared a family in North Alabama, on 
the north side of the Tennessee River. 

Rebecca Eliza Dement, the oldest living daughter 
of James G. Dement and his wife, Eliza Jane Stephen- 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 83 

son, was born in Limestone County, Alabama, Novem- 
ber 3, 1874. She was an unusually intelligent girl, 
cheerful and gay. She was educated at Huntsville, 
Alabama. She was an ambitious girl, desirous to 
stand at the head of her class. Her physical constitu- 
tion was not equal to her thirst for knowledge and dis- 
tinction. As a consequence her progress was checked 
to some extent. She wrote for the newspapers occa- 
sionally. Her productions were of a moral and literary 
nature. March 4, 1903, she married Lawrence A. 
Johnson, a farmer near Greenville, Texas. Mr. John- 
son is a noble specimen of humanity. He is of a family 
distinguished for mental and physical strength and 
forensic power as well as its moral worth. There are 
thousands of men and women in Tennessee and North 
Alabama who have heard with gladness the persuasive 
eloquence, and felt the power of the pulpit when it was 
occupied by Dr. Felix Johnson, or his brother, Alvia. 
These good men were uncles of Lawrence A. Johnson. 
Of the union of Rebecca E. Dement and L. A. Johnson 
a son, Jack Dement, was born. The child is the pride 
of the young parents. Jack is an extraordinary child, 
if a mother's testimony is good in such cases. But the 
average man knows how much salt to use to cure the 
statements of the mother, especially where there is but 
one child. Rebecca did not marry until after her 
mother's death. She and her husband are well situated 
on a rich prairie farm near the beautiful little city of 
Greenville, Hunt County, Texas. Mrs. Johnson has 
only one living brother, John M. Dement, and two 
sisters, Mrs. James H. Easter and Mrs. William Bruce 
Strong. The brother and the two sisters have families 
and live in Limestone County, Alabama. Mrs. John- 
son's father, James G. Dement, is remarried and lives 



84 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

on his farm at the old home. Hodge L. Stephenson's 
wife, Eliza P. Wasson, died; after which he married 
Mrs. Margaret Barker, nee Broyles, of Lawrence 
County, Alabama. Mrs. Barker was a worthy woman, 
a good and kind stepmother. Of this union there was 
a child born, Ann, named in honor of her aunt, Ann 
Broyles. Ann married Calvin Martin; there was a 
son born. Calvin died. The young widow married 
John Wear. To this marriage several children were 
born. Ann died. Mr. Wear lives on his farm with his 
little children. Ann's first child is a farmer and lives 
at the old Stephenson homestead. 

Sallie R. Stephenson, the eighth child and fourth 
daughter of Hugh W. Stephenson and Margaret, his 
wife, married Ellison McGaughey. They reared a 
family near Mount Hope. Sallie died. Ellison married 
Miss Lively Little and went to Marshall County, Mis- 
sissippi. I think the family are all dead. 

Finis is a Latin word and means the end, but my 
grandfather was not a Latin scholar. I will not accuse 
him of naming the boy of his old age Finis on that 
account; but the fact is Finis Ewing Stephenson was 
the fifth son, ninth and last child of Hugh W. and his 
wife, Margaret Stephenson. Finis married Talitha 
McWhorter. They reared a family in Pontotoc County, 
Mississippi. 

In accordance with the plan of this work, I have 
given the generations beginning with Hugh W. Ste- 
phenson, the oldest son of William Stephenson, 1st, 
one of the Four, and his wife, R. Green Beattie. 

My grandfather, Hugh W. Stephenson, was the 
oldest child of William Stephenson, one of the Four. 
He was born in Ireland, January 25, 1765. He had 
four full and two half-brothers in South Carolina. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 85 

They were called "Stinson," the Scottish vernacular 
for Stephenson, but they knew their proper name was 
Stephenson. My grandfather, in 1787, married his 
cousin Margaret, daughter of Capt. James Stephenson, 
one of the Four. In the year 1794 he moved with his 
family from York County, South Carolina, to Smith 
County, Tennessee. He was never called "Stinson" 
any more. The six brothers "Stinsons" who were 
left in South Carolina have now not a single "Stinson" 
descendant to bear the name; but their descendants 
by their daughters are quite numerous. 

I will give here a list of male descendants, now 
living, of Hugh W. Stephenson, through his sons, not 
counting the descendants of his daughters. The num- 
ber now voters is forty-three. I am not reckoning 
those under age: 

Descendants of William Watson Stephenson. 

1. William Henry Stephenson, Collinsville, Texas. 

2. Felix W. Stephenson, Collinsville, Texas. 

3. Dick Lee Stephenson, Collinsville, Texas. 

4. Nim L. Stephenson, Collinsville, Texas. 

5. William Newton Stephenson, Leighton, Alabama. 

6. Hugh William Stephenson, Tuscumbia, Alabama. 

7. Donald Reagan Stephenson, Juanita, Louisiana. 

8. Dr. Hugh Watson Stephenson, Oakman, Alabama. 

9. Roscoe Owen Stephenson, Oakman, Alabama. 

10. William Claiborne Stephenson, Rockwall, Texas. 

11. John Calvin Stephenson, Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

12. Edwin Napier Stephenson, Chicago, Illinois. 

13. William Myatt Stephenson, Waco, Texas. 

14. William Watson Stephenson, Lois, Arkansas. 

15. Thomas Floyd Stephenson, Lois, Arkansas. 

16. Hugh Albert Stephenson, St. Charles, Arkansas. 



86 the stephenson family. 

Descendants of Rev. John Campbell Stephenson. 

17. Porter Stephenson, Rice, Texas. 

18. Amos Jarmon Stephenson, Des Arc, Arkansas. 

19. Dr. Charles C. Stephenson, Little Rock, Arkansas. 

20. John C. Stephenson, Rice, Texas. 

21. Scott Stephenson, Rice, Texas. 

22. Eugene Stephenson, Ennis, Texas. 

23. Thomas Hercanus Stephenson, Boyce, Texas. 

24. John B. Stephenson, Greenville, Texas. 

25. Joseph Stephenson, Waxahachie, Texas. 

26. James Albert Stephenson, Greenville, Texas. 

27. Henry Stephenson, Dallas, Texas. 

Descendants of Pleasant Wright Stephenson. 

28. William Anderson Stephenson, Memphis, Tennes- 

see. 

29. Robert Lee Stephenson, San Francisco, California. 

30. Frank E. Stephenson, Memphis, Tennessee. 

31. Frank Stephenson, Memphis, Tennessee. 

Descendants of Hodge L. Stephenson. 

32. Henry Harvey Stephenson, Dyer, Tennessee. 

33. William Argyle Stephenson, Ro Ellen, Tennessee. 

34. Mort Stephenson, Yorkville, Tennessee. 

35. Marvin Stephenson, Yorkville, Tennessee. 

36. Frank Stephenson, Ro Ellen, Tennessee. 

37. O-ther Stephenson, Ro Ellen, Tennessee. 

38. Charles Michaux Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 

39. Fred L. Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 

40. Russell E. Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 

41. Frank Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 

42. Edward Alfred Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 

43. Deaton Monroe Stephenson, Mt. Hope, Alabama. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 87 



SECTION XIV. 

William Stephenson, a Revolutionary soldier of York 
and Chester counties, and the father of " 'Squire Stin- 
son," was commonly called "Stinson," and his family 
came to be generally known only by the name " Stin- 
son." His son, Daniel Green, signed official documents 
with the name "D. G. Stinson." But it was known by 
him that his father, William, was a son of Robert 
Stephenson, a Scotchman, who reared a family in 
County Antrim, Ireland. J. C. Hicklin, Esq., Rodman, 
South Carolina, a grandson of William Stephenson's 
daughter, Mrs. Mary Furgeson; Sam J. Lewis Rod- 
man, whose wife was Daniel Green Stinson's daughter, 
and Mrs. Hephzibah Stephenson, Rossville, South Car- 
olina (she is the widow of Dr. William Stephenson), 
and a granddaughter of William Stephenson, all now 
quite old, say they have often heard " 'Squire Stinson" 
say that his proper name was Stephenson. In speak- 
ing, in this booklet, of Daniel Green Stinson, or any of 
the descendants of Robert Stephenson, of Ireland, they 
will be called Stephenson. "Stinson" is the Scottish 
vernacular for Stephenson. This fact is well known 
in Scotland and Ireland. It appears to me that it 
shows a want of dignity and of proper respect to the 
illustrious dead to designate them by a misnomer. But 
the name "Stinson" as applied to this family is now 
extinct. Why? Echo answers, Why? 



88 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Hugh W. Stephenson, oldest son of William Stephen- 
son, and half brother of " 'Squire Stinson," refused to 
sign his name as Stinson. He married in York County, 
South Carolina, moved to Tennessee, thence to Ala- 
bama. I have given the names and their respective 
postoffices of forty-three men voters by the name of 
Stephenson, descendants of the sons of Hugh W., to 
say nothing of the descendants of the daughters. Hugh 
left six brothers in South Carolina, as good men and 
as intelligent as he was. They accepted the name 
"Stinson." That was not the right name. The good 
Lord prospered them in their basket and their store. 
But he gave them daughters ; in a few cases sons were 
born, bright sons, but they died without marrying, or 
failed to raise male offspring. Who can explain all 
this? Facts are stubborn things. 

William Stephenson's first wife was a Miss Beattie. 
She has been dead more than a century. The rude 
granite headstone has her name chiseled on it. But 
it is scarcely legible. I am indebted to my cousin, 
J. C. Hicklin, and especially to the indefatigable 
energy and perseverance of Mrs. Gober Anderson, for 
deciphering her name on that old, rough headstone. 
Mrs. Anderson sat down on the ground in the hot July 
sunshine and rubbed the stone to make the carved 
letters appear. She was thoroughly satisfied that she 
understood every letter except one. She could not tell 
whether the first letter of the name was "R" or "B," 
but she was inclined to believe that it was "R." The 
name then reads, "R. Green Stinson." I could not see 
the letters. But Mrs. Anderson's bright, intelligent 
eye is younger than mine. I am satisfied that William 
Stephenson kept no family record of births and deaths. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 89 

I doubt whether he kept a Bible; Bibles were scarce 
in those days. But he was a Presbyterian. 

His brother, Robert Stephenson, called Robert of Wy- 
lam, the father of George Stephenson, the engineer and 
railroad promoter of England, had no family "rech- 
ester," as he wrote it, of the births of his children, 
until after they had all been born, 1792. His family 
record was all written at the same time, by the same 
hand, written with a goose quill pen. There was no 
other sort then. 

The information obtained on a short visit to South 
Carolina last July does not afford me sufficient data 
to write a correct or full history of the Stephenson 
family in South Carolina, nor their connections in 
that country. I hope that some one in South Carolina 
will revise and re- write this booklet, and so amend and 
enlarge it as to include more of the family history. I 
will at all times be more than pleased to furnish any 
assistance in my power to that end. 

John Stephenson, supposed to be the second son of 
William and R. Green Beattie, probably married. But 
nothing is known by me of his family if he had one. 

Robert Stephenson, the third son of William Ste- 
phenson and his wife, R. Green Beattie, married Nancy 
Agnew, of South Carolina. Of this union six children 
were born: two sons and four daughters. Mary, the 
oldest daughter of Robert Stephenson and his wife, 
Nancy Agnew, married Mr. Harrison. Lucretia, the 
second daughter, married John Stroud. The third 
daughter, Agnes, married Thomas Cain. William 
Stephenson, the oldest son of Robert and Nancy, never 
married. Elihu, the second son, married Miss Talia- 
ferro. Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married Fer- 
guson Woods. 



90 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

James Stephenson, the fourth son of William Steph- 
enson and his wife, did not marry. 

William Stephenson, the fifth son of William Ste- 
phenson and his wife, never married. 

Elizabeth and Nancy, the first daughters born to 
William Stephenson and his wife, R. Green Beattie, 
were twins, born in Chester County, South Carolina, 
in 1787. Their mother died the same day on which 
they were born. Elizabeth married Mr. Roberson. 
They had several sons. Nancy was twice married. 
She first married William Orr. Of this union two chil- 
dren were born. Mr. Orr died. The widow, Nancy, 
married John Ferguson. Of this marriage there were 
children born. Burdette Ferguson, now living with 
Stephen Ferguson, is the only surviving child of John 
Ferguson and his wife, Nancy Stephenson. 

William Stephenson, one of the Four, the widower, 
married a second wife, Miss Elizabeth Wylie, an ex- 
cellent and intelligent Irish lady, who had only recently 
arrived from the Green Isle. The marriage took place 
in 1789. Of this marriage four children were born, 
two sons and two daughters. These Stephensons were 
called "Stinson." 

There exists a singular fact in regard to the "Stin- 
son" family in South Carolina — one that cannot be 
accounted for from a human standpoint. It is this — 
the "Stinson" family failed to perpetuate the name 
"Stinson." The name, as applied to the Stephenson 
family, is extinct. But the descendants through the 
"Stinson" females bearing their husbands' names are 
quite numerous. I have referred to this singular fact 
elsewhere. 

When I found that Samuel Stinson, the first son of 
William Stephenson and his second wife, Elizabeth 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 91 

Wylie, born 1790, reared a large family, and among 
the children were three healthy sons, Jacob, Daniel 
and Samuel, I thought this was a reasonable chance 
for a perpetuation of the name "Stinson;" but it, like 
all the rest, failed. 

Samuel, son of William Stephenson, one of the Four, 
married Elizabeth Westbrook. There were born unto 
them seven children, three sons and four daughters. 
Salena, daughter of Samuel Stephenson and his wife, 
Elizabeth Westbrook, married Samuel Baxter. They 
had no children. Elizabeth married Israel Baxter. 
Two daughters were born. The family moved west. 
Nothing is known of them. 

Nancy, daughter of Samuel Stephenson and his wife, 
Elizabeth Westbrook, married Lemuel Jackson. Of 
this union there were born seven children. Mrs. Till- 
man Henson, near Rossville, South Carolina, is the 
oldest daughter of Lemuel Jackson and his wife, Nancy 
Stephenson. 

Laura Jackson, the second daughter, married George 
Peters. 

Lucius Jackson, son of Lemuel and his wife, Nancy, 
married Miss Elizabeth Brown. They are living in 
Navarro County, near Corsicana, Texas. 

Thompson Jackson, son of Lemuel, married Miss 
Sanders. 

Love Jackson married Mr. Marshall. 

Lenora Jackson married James Gladden. They 
reared a family in Chester County, South Carolina. 
They have descendants now living in South Carolina. 
The other son of Lemuel Jackson and his wife did not 
marry. 

I am not informed in regard to the fourth daughter 
of Samuel Stephenson. 



92 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Jacob, son of Samuel Stephenson, called "Stinson," 
and his wife, Elizabeth Westbrook, grew to manhood, 
went off with one Johnson with some articles to sell. 
He was never heard of after he left home. It was 
thought that he was murdered and thrown into the 
Broad River. The next son, Daniel, married Miss 
Margaret Davidson. Two children were born to them. 
The parents and both children died. Samuel, the last 
son, never married. Thus the three sons of Samuel 
Stephenson, called "Stinson," passed away leaving no 
descendants. 

Mary, the second child of William Stephenson and 
his wife, Elizabeth Wylie, was born in 1792. She mar- 
ried James Ferguson. They reared nine children, 
seven girls and two boys. I regret that I do not know 
more of the history of this interesting family. Mr. 
Ferguson was a prosperous farmer in the Rocky Creek 
country, near Rossville. His wife, Mary Stephenson, 
was an extraordinary woman, very domestic and in- 
tellectual. While she was an excellent housekeeper 
and provided well for the comfort of her children, she 
kept well informed as to the affairs of the State and 
country. 

Isabella Ferguson, daughter of James Ferguson and 
Mary Stephenson, married Jason Hicklin. Mr. Hicklin 
was a farmer and owned and operated a grist mill on 
Rocky Creek. Ihey reared a highly respected family. 
The children had as good an education as could be ob- 
tained in the country, then new. 

Jason Calvin Hicklin, son of Jason Hicklin and his 
wife, Isabella Ferguson, married Miss Sallie Strait. 
She is a most excellent lady and is well preserved. 
They live in contentment and ease with their family 
on a well cultivated farm near Rodman, South Car- 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 93 

olina. Mr. Hicklin is an intelligent, industrious hus- 
bandman, a consistent member of the Associate Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church. He is a surveyor of 
large experience. He has two very nice daughters 
at home, who, I fear, are cheating some two young 
men out of most desirable wives and happy homes. 
His daughter, Susie, married Mr. Gaston, a farmer 
and merchant in the neighborhood. They have three 
promising children. 

Mrs. Hall, of Winnsboro, South Carolina, is a widow. 
She is a daughter of Jason Hicklin. She lives with her 
son, Jason Hall. Mr. Hall has an interesting family 
— wife and eight children. 

Mrs. Susie McCrorrey, wife of William McCrorrey, 

is a daughter of Mrs. Hall. She is an excellent, good 

housekeeper and provider, as I can testify, having had 

ocular and tasteful experience. Mr. McCrorrey is an 

elder in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 

\ at Catholic — a strange name for a church of Presby- 

l terian family. It is an old brick church a few miles 

] west from Rossville, South Carolina. 

Elizabeth, second daughter of James Ferguson and 
his wife, Mary Stephenson, married Mr. Sterling. Ag- 
nes Ferguson, the third daughter, married Mr. Cole- 
man. Kate, the fourth daughter, married Mr. Grafton. 
Mary Ann, the fifth daughter, married Mr. Hindman. 

Hephzibah, the sixth daughter of James Ferguson 
and Mary Stephenson, married Dr. William J. Stephen- 
son. (No relation to the family whose history I am 
writing.) She is a widow and lives with her son, 
William Stephenson, a farmer, near Rossville. She is 
a consistent member of the Associate Reformed Pres- 
byterian Church at Catholic. She is held in high es- 
teem by her church and her neighbors, by whom she is 



94 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

regarded as one of the noble old ladies of the com- 
munity in which she lives. Her son with whom she 
lives is a well-to-do, industrious, honest farmer. He is 
married, and has several children. Mrs. Hephzibah 
is the mother of Mrs. Nancy Ferguson, the wife of 
Stephen Ferguson, near Richburg, South Carolina. 
Mrs. Nancy Ferguson is one of the most attractive and 
intelligent, as well as one of the finest looking ladies 
I saw in South Carolina, and I saw many who would 
be stars in any community. She could grace any par- 
lor, or lead the social company, and when it comes to 
the culinary art, she is an adept. She is the mother of 
ten healthy, intelligent children, and from appearances 
she might be the mother of ten more. 

Jane, the seventh daughter of James Ferguson and 
his wife, Mary Stephenson, married Mr. Hall. Will- 
iam Ferguson, the first son of the above parents, mar- 
ried Miss Wade. They have a son living with his 
family on the old Ferguson farm near Rossville. 

Barber Ferguson, another son, the last child of 
James Ferguson, was three times married. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



95 



SECTION XV. 



Daniel Green Stephenson (called "Stinson"), the 
tenth child of William Stephenson, one of the Four, 
and the third child of the same, and his second wife, 
Elizabeth Wylie, was 
born May 1, 1794, in 
South Carolina. From 
his boyhood he exhibited 
an unusual thirst for 
knowledge. He was a 
good farm hand from 
the time he could hoe 
cotton till he was grown. 
But he managed to ob- 
tain a good education 
through his persever- 
ance and energy. He 
was intellectually very 
strong from his youth 

Up. His moral Character Daniel Green Stinson, Esq., Ches- 
i t TT ter County, South Carolina. 

was above reproach. He 

was kind and considerate in his intercourse with men, 
very conscientious and just in all his transactions with 
the world. He married Miss Esther Gaston, from an 
illustrious family of the country. There were born of 
this union nine children, seven daughters and two 
sons. One of the sons died in infancy ; the other, John, 
was in his senior year at college when he died. It is 




96 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

said he was a young man of much promise. Three of 
his daughters died in maidenhood. Much attention 
was given by the parents to the education of the chil- 
dren. They reared a family highly respected for in- 
tegrity and worth. 

Daniel Green Stephenson (called "Stinson") was a 
fine local historian. He rendered invaluable services 
to Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ellet, in writing the third volume 
of "The Women of the American Revolution." He also 
wrote, by request of Lyman C. Draper, the history of 
the Battle of King's Mountain, so far as it was partici- 
pated in by South Carolinians. He also wrote the "His- 
tory of Presbyterianism in South Carolina," for Dr. 
Howe. He has left on record in the Yorkville (South 
Carolina) Enquirer, of October 2, 1879, a biographical 
sketch from which we learn much of his history. I, 
especially, and as for that, all the descendants of the 
Four, are under lasting obligations to his memory for 
the family history he has left on record, without which 
thousands of us would be in total darkness as to our 
genealogical history. While we observe some errors 
into which he has fallen, we respect his memory the 
more highly for his effort in that direction, knowing 
that he did his best for us. He did so much better than 
any one else did that we can readily excuse any appar- 
ent error in his writings. He was for many years a 
faithful and efficient public officer in Chester County. 
South Carolina. He was a farmer of large means, 
always kind and lenient to his slaves. He kept a bill 
of sale for some negroes his father bought in the year 
1797. This paper was lost about the time the negroes 
were freed — 1865. 

Jane Stephenson, daughter of Daniel Green Ste- 
phenson and his wife, Esther Gaston, married Rev. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 97 

Matthew Elder. They reared three children, two sons 
and one daughter. Norman Elder, son of Matthew 
Elder and his wife, Jane Stephenson, has a family in 
Columbia, South Carolina. Mr. Elder is an intelli- 
gent, well educated man. He is head clerk in a large 
business in Columbia. John M. W. Elder, a brother 
to Norman, is an Associate Reformed Presbyterian 
minister. He has charge of two churches in Virginia. 
He has a family. Miss Mary Jane Elder, daughter 
of Rev. M. Elder and his wife, Jane, is not married. 
She is living in Chester, South Carolina. 

Melissa Stephenson, daughter of Daniel Green Ste- 
phenson and his wife, Esther Gaston, married the Rev. 
Laughlin McDonald. Mr. McDonald was an eminent 
Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister, a zealous 
and useful man, a man who sacrificed his own ease and 
comfort for the general good. He and his wife, 
Melissa, reared to maturity three sons. Charles Edgar 
McDonald is an able and highly useful Associate Re- 
formed Presbyterian minister. He is the pastor of 
the church at Winnsboro, South Carolina. His wife 
is dead. He has charge of the children and his flock. 
He is. in many respects a very superior man. James 
Edwin, a younger brother to the preacher, is a lawyer 
of more than ordinary ability. Judge McDonald prac- 
tices in the courts at Winnsboro, his home, and in the 
surrounding counties. He has great ability in deter- 
mining the merits of the cases that come before him 
when on the bench. He has a large and commodious 
home, surrounded by extensive grounds. He has a 
most amiable wife and five very promising children. 
His daughter, Miss Helen, now about grown, is a 
charming and well educated young lady. His oldest 
son, Edwin, is in college and will soon graduate. There 



98 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

is no nicer family in Winnsboro than Judge Edwin 
McDonald's. 

William Lee McDonald, son of Rev. L. McDonald, 
is an insurance agent. He has a family and lives in 
Charlotte, N. C. 

Eliza C. Stephenson, daughter of D. G. Stephenson 
and his wife, Esther Gaston, married Samuel J. Lewis. 
There were born of this union seven children, five sons 
and two daughters. The five sons and one daughter 
have passed away, leaving no descendants. Mrs. 
Lewis, the mother, is also dead. 

Margaret Melissa Lewis, daughter of Samuel J. 
Lewis and his wife, Eliza C. Stephenson, after she 
was educated, married John M. Bell. They have one 
interesting child, a son, Lewis. The child is a very 
intelligent scion and the pride of the family. Mr. Bell 
is an electrician, and an industrious, clever, good 
man. He lives at Rodman, and works at Chester, 
eleven miles west from Rodman. Mr. Bell, in the 
early morning, runs to Chester on an electric bicycle, 
and returns after work time in the evening. Mr. Bell 
was exceedingly fortunate in his marriage to Miss 
Maggie Lewis. She is an intelligent, industrious 
woman, a devoted mother, a kind, obedient wife, and 
a painstaking housekeeper. She is a blond, having the 
complexion and style of the Scottish Stephensons. 
There is no better or kinder woman in Rodman than 
Mrs. Margaret Melissa Bell. But her Irish blood will 
rise in the twinkling of an eye, if she sees that dear 
little boy imposed upon. 

Samuel J. Lewis is a successful merchant at Rod- 
man. He owns land and farms. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian Church. There is no better man in 
that church than Sam Lewis. Mr. Lewis lived in 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 99 

Tishomingo County, Mississippi, when the war came 
on. He was a gallant and brave soldier in the Con- 
federate army. Probably there was no one in that 
desperate struggle who was in more hard-fought bat- 
tles, and who was a witness to more death and carnage 
than Samuel J. Lewis. He lost all he had; his family 
refugeed from North Mississippi to South Carolina. 
He is an industrious, economical man. He has now a 
nice little estate. 

Martha Stephenson, daughter of Daniel Green Ste- 
phenson and his wife, Esther Gaston, married Mr. 
Lewis, a nephew of Samuel J. Lewis. She is dead; 
she has no descendants living. 

Daniel Green Stephenson was twice married. His 
wife, Esther Gaston, died in 1854, after having been 
married thirty-five years. Her husband made the 
common mistake of old men. He married a widow 
who had a family of daughters. 'Squire "Stinson's" 
family and the newly adopted one were not congenial ; 
they never are. His latter days were not his hap- 
piest days. 



100 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION XVI. 



Catharine, the last child of William Stephenson, one 
of the Four, and his wife, Elizabeth Wylie, married 
John Westbrook, a farmer. They lived on a fine farm 
one mile west from Rossville. There were born to 
them twelve children. Seven of them died without 
heirs. The other five reared respectable, good fami- 
lies. Jacob Westbrook, son of John Westbrook and 
his wife, Catharine Stephenson, married Sarah Peay. 
They have a family and live in Acworth, Georgia. 
Terzie Westbrook, Jacob's sister, married Jefferson 
Wylie. 

Jane Agnes, daughter of John Westbrook and his 
wife, Catharine Stephenson, married James Campbell. 
They reared a family near Mount Prospect church, in 
Chester County, South Carolina. She is a widow and 
lives with her daughter, Mary Frances, and son-in-law, 
W. C. Garrison, a respectable citizen and a good, indus- 
trious farmer. Mr. Garrison and his wife have several 
children. My cousin, Jane Agnes, is one of four 
living grandchildren of William Stephenson, one of 
the Four. She is getting up in years for a widow, but 
her memory is very good. I obtained from her more 
of the past history of the descendants of the Four than 
from all the others whom I met. J. C. Hicklin and 
myself enjoyed a splendid basket dinner with her fam- 
ily at a picnic one July day. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 101 

Mary Elizabeth Westbrook married William Alex- 
ander White. Mr. White owned a large farm, three 
miles south of Chester, South Carolina. On this farm 
he reared a large and respectable family. Their son, 
James G. L. White, now owns and lives on the original 
White estate. It consists of four hundred acres that 
has been in the family for one hundred and forty-five 
years. The land was granted to Mr. White's grand 
ancestor in 1762, by the crown of England. The con- 
sideration was ten shillings for a hundred acres. When 
the land was surveyed it was guessed off with given 
metes and bounds, always good measure thrown in. 
The purchaser did the most of the guessing. J. G. L. 
White has the original deed by which the crown of 
England conveyed this land to his great-grandfather. 

The following are the names of the children of 
William A. White and his wife, Mary Elizabeth West- 
brook : John W. White, Louisville, Georgia ; Mrs. Kate 
S. Stone, Augusta, Georgia; Dr. W. G. White, York- 
ville, South Carolina; James G. L. White, Chester, 
South Carolina ; R. M. White, Chester, South Carolina ; 
Miss Jinnie C. White, Chester, South Carolina. On 
that same old farm Mr. White, this year, 1905, expects 
to make a bale of cotton to the acre. He has an inter- 
esting family, consisting of wife and seven children. 
His daughter, Mary Elizabeth, has just finished school. 
Any one knows how bright and polite a young lady 
can be when she has just graduated and returned 
home. Three of his little boys, one named "Stinson," 
are about the same size. They are about the right 
size and age to get off with a stranger and tell him all 
the family secrets. Isabella, daughter of John West- 
brook and his wife, Catharine Stephenson, married 
Robert Nichols. 



102 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Having given a very incomplete account of the de- 
scendants of William Stephenson, one of the Four, and 
of his children and their descendants, I will take up 
next his brother, James Stephenson, one of the Four. 

James Stephenson, son of Robert Stephenson, a 
Scotchman, who reared a family in Antrim County, 
Ireland, was born in Ireland about the year 1746. He 
married previous to coming to America. His wife's 
Christian name was Nellie, but I do not know her 
maiden name. He was a captain in the Revolutionary 
War under Col. John Sevier. He was in the battle of 
King's Mountain. There were born to him and his 
wife, Nellie, eight children, four sons and four daugh- 
ters, namely : Hugh, born in Ireland, in 1766 ; a daugh- 
ter, who died on the way to America and was buried 
at sea; Margaret, born November 28, 1770, in Ireland, 
my grandmother; John, born in Ireland, in 1772; 
Mary Ann, born in South Carolina, in 1774; Robert, 
born in 1776, in South Carolina; William, born in 
1778, in South Carolina; Rebecca, born in 1781, in 
South Carolina. 

Capt. James Stephenson was a brave and faithful 
officer in the Revolutionary War. He participated in 
many battles. During the time James Stephenson was 
in the army his wife, Nellie, and her children worked 
on a farm in the southeastern part of Chester County, 
South Carolina, for a support. In the year 1780 the 
British and Tories came to her house plundering. She 
had her cattle in a lot. She fought the enemy the best 
she could trying to save some of her property. She 
put one favorite milch cow, "Old Brindle," in the horse 
stable. The Tories knocked her down and broke the 
door open and took the last cow she had. But she had 
one weapon left which she used with much severity — 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 103 

her tongue. She called them low-down, thieving imps 
of King George. Her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, 
struck one of the Tories with the poking stick. In 
these days of plenty and affluence there may be some 
who do not know what is meant by a poking stick. In 
the time of the American Revolution, and down to my 
boyhood days, iron shovel and tongs were luxuries 
which only a few were able to enjoy. In those days 
for fire dogs common rocks were used, and for tongs 
a hickory stick four feet long and one and a half inches 
thick was used. The shovel was made from a common 
clapboard riven from a white oak tree. The board was 
trimmed down to a handle. 



104 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION XVII. 

Hugh Stephenson, oldest son of Capt. James Ste- 
phenson, one of the Four, and his wife, Nellie, was born 
in Antrim County, Ireland, in 1766. He came with his 
father's family to America, married Miss Margaret 
Presley in South Carolina, in 1790. He moved to 
Sumner County, Tennessee, in 1794; thence to Law- 
rence County, Alabama, in 1820. After three children 
had been born his wife died in Tennessee. These 
three children were John, Thomas and Margaret Pres- 
ley Stephenson. Hugh married Elizabeth Alvis in 
Tennessee. They reared a large family in Lawrence 
County, Alabama. 

John Stephenson, son of Hugh and Margaret, was 
born in South Carolina, in 1792. He married Lucinda 
Theirlkill, near Mount Hope, Alabama. They reared 
a family in Mississippi. Thomas, the next son, never 
married. Margaret Presley married my father after 
my mother's death. Her children have been noticed 
under the head of William Watson Stephenson. 

Dorothy, daughter of Hugh Stephenson and his wife, 
Elizabeth Alvis, married Hiram Byler. They reared 
a family in Mississippi. Mary Ann, commonly called 
"Polly Ann," daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Alexander Lee. They went to Louisiana. Martha, 
commonly called "Patsy," married James Lee. Of this 
union three children were born: Puss, Thomas Ben- 
ton and William A. Lee. Puss never married. She 
now lives with her brother, T. B. Lee. T. B. Lee mar- 
ried Steve Johnson's daughter. They reared a family 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 105 

six miles west from Moulton, Alabama, on a farm. 
William A. Lee married Miss Wasson. They live 
northeast from Leighton, Alabama, in Coiburt County. 
Their children are mostly grown. Some of them are 
married. 

Ashley Elliott Stephenson, son of Hugh and Eliza- 
beth, married my only full sister, Miss Mary Ann Ste- 
phenson, commonly called "Polly Ann." Their children 
have been noticed under the head, William Watson 
Stephenson. 

Jasper Newton Stephenson, son of the above Hugh 
and Elizabeth, married Caroline White. They reared 
a family near Landersville, Alabama. Bill, Tom and 
his brother went to North Texas. 

Paralee, daughter of J. N. Stephenson and his wife, 
Caroline White, married Thomas Hagood. They have 
several children. They live at Hatton, Lawrence 
County, Alabama. Another daughter of J. N. Stephen- 
son married Mr. Montgomery. They live near Moul- 
ton, Alabama. 

Catharine, daughter of Hugh Stephenson and his 
wife, Elizabeth Alvis, married William Eckles. They 
have no children. 

Elizabeth, the youngest child of Hugh Stephenson 
and his wife, Elizabeth Alvis, married Thomas Wash- 
ington White. Some children were born. The 
parents died. The children live near Landersville, 
Alabama. 

Margaret Stephenson, daughter of Capt. James Ste- 
phenson, one of the Four, and his wife, Nellie, was 
born in Ireland, in 1770. She married her cousin, 
Hugh W. Stephenson, my grandfather, in South Caro- 
lina. She has been noticed under the head of her hus- 
band's father, William Stephenson, one of the Four. 



106 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Much of the early history of the Stephenson family, 
here recorded, is derived from her conversation when 
I was a small boy. A little boy thinks his grandmother 
knows it all. 

John Stephenson, son of Capt. James, one of the 
Four, and Nellie, was born in Ireland, in 1772. He 
married in Tennessee. After two children were born 
he died. 

James Guynn Stephenson, son of John Stephenson 
and his wife, was born 1807, in Tennessee. Guynn 
was a scientific farmer, a good neighbor and an hon- 
orable, upright citizen. He was a faithful member 
of the Baptist Church. He married Miss Mary Kent 
in Alabama, reared an interesting family. He died in 
Texas. 

Mary Ellen, daughter of James Guynn Stephenson 
and his wife, Mary Kent, married Dr. John Benton 
McGaughey, Mount Hope, Alabama. They reared a. 
large family in Texas. The McGaugheys at Brown- 
wood, Texas, are Guynn's grandchildren. Jane, 
Guynn's second daughter married Mr. Simmons, 
of Hood County, Texas. They have a family in Texas. 

John Smith, son of James Guynn Stephenson and 
his wife, Mary Kent, married Miss Jinnie Davis, Con- 
cord, Alabama. They reared only one child, a daughter. 
She married James Masterson, of Moulton. Two 
daughters were born. Mrs. Masterson died. The two 
daughters are now young ladies, living in Moulton, 
Alabama. John Smith Stephenson's wife, Jinnie, died. 
John married Mrs. Susan K. Benner, a widow. They 
live in Courtland, Alabama. He is the sheriff of Law- 
rence County, Alabama. 

Camilla, called "Miley," only daughter of John Ste- 
phenson and his wife, never married. She died in 
Texas. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 107 



SECTION XVIII. 



Mary Ann, daughter of James Stephenson, one of 
the Four, and his wife, Nelly, was born in South Caro- 
lina, in 1774. She married Mr. Sandifer. They reared 
a family in South Carolina. The son of Mr. Sandifer 
and his wife, Mary Ann Stephenson, married Miss 
Wylie. Of this union were several children born. 

Misses Sarah and Hephzibah Sandifer, now living 
on Rocky Creek, near Rossville, are two of their chil- 
dren. These two maids own and live upon a farm on 
Rocky Creek, on which, by prudence, industry and 
economy, they make a competency and some to spare. 
These ladies are nice, quiet members of the old Catholic 
Presbyterian Church. Their farm skirts Rocky Creek 
where the old cow ford was in Revolutionary times. 
Here at this cow ford is the place William Anderson 
crossed and made his escape from forty pursuing 
British and Tories. This was in June, 1780. The old 
Anderson home is just over the hills across the creek 
from the Sandifer home. The home is in sight; the 
creek still flows as then; but the living creatures of 
that day are all gone. But their brave deeds are living 
and moving as well as the water in the channels of that 
historic creek. 

Here Mr. Anderson lived when he volunteered for 
the war. He left a loving wife and three children: 
Mary, the oldest, and Robert and William. He left a 



108 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

bountiful supply for his wife and children — horses, 
cattle and hogs, and a crib full of corn, and a smoke- 
house well supplied with provisions, old ham and well 
cured side meat. But, oh, the uncertainty of this 
world's goods ! On the return of the British and Tories 
from the vain pursuit of William Anderson, her hus- 
band, they, knowing his skill and bravery and being 
chagrined on account of his escape, destroyed and 
carried away everything she possessed. Soon after this 
occurrence Mr. Anderson was surprised and killed on 
Fishing Creek, near where Fort Lawn now is. Her 
resources for the support of her three children were 
her energy and will to work. She built a dam and put 
in a fish-trap on Rocky Creek. Her seven-year-old 
daughter, Mary, assisted her mother. They worked in 
water up to their knees all day building that dam, but 
they succeeded in catching an abundance of fish. They 
would prepare the fish and hang them above the fire in 
the rude chimney, so as to dry them for a future day. 

Mrs. William Anderson, nee Stephenson, had two 
brothers, James and William, in the army, and one 
brother, Robert Stephenson, who went from Ireland 
to the coal mines near Newcastle, England. This 
Robert is the father of George Stephenson, the cele- 
brated inventor of the locomotive. He built the first 
locomotive that moved on the surface of the earth. 
This was 1814 to 1830. The child, Mary Anderson, 
who, when seven years old, was such substantial aid to 
her mother, married Joshua Smith and became the 
mother of four able ministers of the gospel in Ten- 
nessee, and the great-grandmother of Senator E. W. 
Carmack. One of her nephews, Napoleon Bonaparte 
Anderson, belonged to the Tennessee Conference for 
forty years. The Andersons near Pulaski are the de- 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 109 

scendants of her brother, Robert Anderson. One of 
the Andersons near Pulaski sent eleven sons to the 
Confederate army, ten of whom returned at the close 
of the war. William H. Anderson lives at this time 
on an estate near Pulaski, Tennessee. The substance 
of the above history is gleaned from the third volume 
of 'The Women of the American Revolution.'' 

There is another place on the Misses Sandifer's farm 
of interesting history. It is a cave in the banks of 
Rocky Creek. There was a farmer who had only re- 
cently come from England at the beginning of the war 
of the Revolution. His name was John Ferguson. He 
and his good wife, Isabella, would not take part against 
their neighbors, most of whom were Whigs, nor did 
they wish to oppose their recent countrymen. Mrs. 
Anderson, after being robbed of all she had, gathered 
her maturing crop, and, to keep out of the way of the 
marauding Tories — the country being overrun with 
British and Tories — called on Mr. Ferguson for advice. 
He concealed her corn in a cave under a hill on the 
creek's banks. Through Mr. Ferguson's kindness and 
ingenuity he was of great help to Mrs. Anderson and 
other Whig ladies of that neighborhood. 

Robert B. Anderson and I visited these historic spots 
last July. We took dinner with the tw r o happy maids. 
It was a bountiful repast and thoroughly enjoyed by 
the two visitors. The old cave is there yet, but the 
washings from the fields have partly filled its mouth. 
Some old fence rails are sticking up out of the mud and 
sand in the cave's mouth. May the good Lord preserve 
these two happy, good, and what society calls old 
maids, and may they conclude not to deprive some 
nice gentleman of good and suitable helpmeets any 
longer. Selah. 



110 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



SECTION XIX. 



Robert, son of Capt. James Stephenson, one of the 
Four, and his wife, Nellie, born in 1776, married 
and went West. I know nothing of his family. 

William Stephenson, son of the above James, born 
in 1779, was a soldier in the War of 1812. He gained 
distinction for bravery and gallant services at the Bat- 
tle of New Orleans. He volunteered from Tennessee. 
He never married. 

Rebecca, the youngest daughter of James Stephen- 
son, one of the Four, and his wife, Nellie, was born 
in South Carolina in 1781. She married Hugh Camp- 
bell in Tennessee. They reared a family — four sons 
and one daughter — in Maury County, Tennessee, near 
Spring Hill. The oldest daughter of Hugh Campbell 
and Rebecca Stephenson, Ann Eliza, married A. L. 
Stephenson, my oldest brother. They have been spoken 
of under the head of William Watson Stephenson. 

The oldest son, "Tiry," died unmarried. He was a 
mechanic, and is buried at Leighton, Alabama. The 
next son, Zeno Stephenson Campbell, married and 
reared a family near Spring Hill, Tennessee. George 
Washington Campbell, another son, married and 
reared a family in Tennessee. James Madison Camp- 
bell, the youngest son of Hugh Campbell and his wife, 
Rebecca Stephenson, never married. He was killed 
at the Battle of Monterey, Mexico, September, 1846. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. Ill 

Elizabeth, one of the Four, a daughter of Robert 
Stephenson, a Scotchman, who reared a family in 
Ireland, was born in Antrim County, Ireland, in 1748. 
She married Alexander Brady in Ireland. They 
reared a family near Landsford, on the Catawba 
River, near the line of York and Chester counties, 
South Carolina. John Brady, son of Alex Brady and 
his wife, Elizabeth Stephenson, one of the Four, mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth Wylie. They reared several chil- 
dren near Rock Hill, in York County, South Carolina. 
I regret that my information in regard to the Brady 
family is so limited. 

Ruth B. Brady, the fourth child of John Brady and 
his wife, Elizabeth Wylie, was born in 1834. She 
married William Cowan. They reared a family near 
Rock Hill, York County, South Carolina. They have 
two sons, George and John Cowan, cotton buyers at 
Rock Hill. Mrs. Mary Youngblood, daughter of Will- 
iam Cowan and Ruth B. Brady, his wife, lives at Rock 
Hill. Margaret Tennant, daughter of John Brady and 
Elizabeth Wylie, lives on a farm near Landsford, 
South Carolina. 

Nancy Susanna Cowan, daughter of William Cowan 
and his wife, Ruth B. Brady, married William B. Lynn. 
Their home is on a high elevation, a beautiful situa- 
tion, in the midst of a large farm, near Lewis' Turn- 
out, five miles north of Chester. Mr. and Mrs. Lynn 
are well fixed. They have an interesting family of 
intelligent children. I enjoyed a most bountiful and 
well prepared dinner with them on Sunday after re- 
aming from church. They are Presbyterians. Mrs. 

an is one of triplets — two girls and one boy — all 

jut forty years old. Mrs. Lynn is the only one of 



112 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

the three that I saw. But I saw the photograph of 
the three. She is a very amiable woman. 

The term, "One of the Four," has frequently been 
used in this book. It was explained before it was 
used, but, perhaps, it would be well to explain it again. 
There were Four emigrants, who came from Ireland 
to America in the year 1772. They settled in South 
Carolina. They were William, James, Elizabeth and 
Nancy Stephenson, two sons and two daughters of 
Robert Stephenson, a Scotchman, who reared a fam- 
ily in County Antrim, near the little town of Bally- 
money, Ireland. All our relatives in America, so far 
as we know, descended from these four, two brothers 
and two sisters. Hence, any one of these Four emi- 
grants is called "One of the Four." 

There is strong circumstantial evidence that Robert 
Stephenson, of Ireland, had a younger brother named 
James Stephenson, who reared a family in County 
Antrim, Ireland, and that some of James' descendants 
came to America, and that the Stevensons in Fairfield 
County, South Carolina, are the descendants of the 
James Stephenson, of Ireland. One of these Fairfield 
Stevensons was six feet and nine inches high and was 
familiarly called "Long Robert Stevenson." 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 113 



SECTION XX. 



Elizabeth Stephenson, one of the Four, married 
Alex Brady. She is the grandmother of Ruth B. 
Brady, the widow of William Cowan. Mrs. Cowan and 
her sister, Mrs. Margaret M. Tennant, of Landsford, 
South Carolina, are the only living grandchildren of 
Elizabeth Stephenson, one of the Four. A very un- 
usual occurrence took place in this Cowan family, a 
condition I never knew to exist in any family before. 
It may have existed somewhere else, but, if so, I have 
never known of the fact. Ruth B. Brady, wife of 
William Cowan, on January 26, 1867, gave birth to 
triplets, two girls and one boy. I have known triplets 
to be born — that is of rare occurrence, but it happens 
in every country — but I never knew all three to live to 
maturity till this case. Robert Hope Cowan weighs 
two hundred and twenty pounds. He is a prosperous 
farmer on the old Cowan homestead, near Rock Hill, 
York County, South Carolina. He is one of these 
triplets. He is not married. Nancy Susanna Cowan, 
now the wife of William B. Lynn, Esq., is another of 
the triplets. She weighs one hundred and sixty 
pounds, is the mother of five nice, smart children. How 
many more there may be deponent sayeth not. Mr. 
Lynn is a successful farmer. He has one of the nicest 
farms in Chester County. Mary Louise Cowan, now 
Mrs. Bloodworth, is another one of the triplets, weighs 



114 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

one hundred and thirty-five pounds. I was not at her 
house and did not see her, but I was told that she is 
as fine looking and as good a housewife as her triplet 
sister, Nancy. If that be so, she is all right. She lives 
on a farm near Landsford, on the Catawba River, at 
the head of the falls. 






THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 115 



SECTION XXI. 



Nancy Stephenson, one of the Four, daughter of 
Robert Stephenson, of County Antrim, Ireland, was 
born 1750, in Ireland. She married William Anderson 
in Ireland, in 1772, and came with her husband and 
others to America. He bought land and settled on 
Rocky Creek, about eight miles west from the lower 
end of the falls, on the Catawba River. Of this mar- 
riage there were three children born — Mary, Robert 
and William. Mr. Anderson volunteered as an Amer- 
ican soldier. He fell in the cause of liberty in the 
autumn of 1780. Nancy, his wife, and her children, 
struggled for a living. But by indomitable will and 
perseverance, they succeeded. She was a handsome 
woman, and as good as she was fine looking. She was 
tall and symmetrically proportioned — a graceful form. 
She was a blonde, having beautiful complexion, very 
light colored hair and blue eyes. She was an extra- 
ordinarily nice housekeeper and a fine cook. Quoting 
from Rev. Wesley Smith's (her grandson) "Family 
History:" "One, who knew Nancy Anderson, nee Ste- 
phenson, well, observed that if a woman ever lived 
who came up to Solomon's description of a virtuous 
woman, it was she." 

It is meet and proper that the quotation attributed 
by the Rev. Wesley Smith, her grandson, to Mrs. 
Nancy A. Carmack, her granddaughter, should be used 



116 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

to describe the grandmother, Nancy Anderson: "The 
heart of her husband did safely trust in her. She 
did work diligently with her hands. She did lay her 
hands to the spindle and hold the distaff. She stretched 
forth her hands to the poor, yea, she reached forth 
her hands to the needy. She looked well to the ways 
of her household and eat not the bread of idleness. 
Her children have risen up and called her blessed. Her 
husband also praised her." Her numerous intelligent 
and distinguished descendants are a fit reward for her 
piety and devotion to the training of her three chil- 
dren. They are distinguished in the walks of peace 
and in the councils of the nation, as well as in the 
carnage and clamor of war, and in the proclaiming 
of the gospel of Christ. She married Daniel Green, 
a Revolutionary soldier. Mr. Green was a very excel- 
lent man, a kind husband, an industrious provider, 
a very lenient, good stepfather. Of this second mar- 
riage there were no children. She and Mr. Green 
succeeded in accumulating a nice fortune. After 
they recovered from the effects of the Revolutionary 
War, they built a residence, which is still standing as 
a monument to the art and industry of Mr. Green. 

I was in this house last July. It was built with 
hewn pine logs, in the year 1779. The logs and house 
generally are in a very good state of preservation. 
I visited every room, from basement to garret. The 
house is a model of strength and compactness. But 
the indications of wealth are gone; no negroes, no fine 
horses, no beautiful flower garden. All are gone to 
try the realities of another world. But the spring of 
cold water still flows from under the brow of the hill 
as ever. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 117 

Mary Anderson, daughter of William Anderson and 
his wife, Nancy Stephenson, born in 1774, married 
Joshua Smith in South Carolina. They reared a large 
and intelligent family in Robertson County, Tennes- 
see. The most of their children were unusually intelli- 
gent. Four of her sons became ministers of the gos- 
pel. They were devoted to their calling and were 
useful men in the community where their lot was cast. 
They were of the Methodist persuasion. They reared 
families in the Southwest. 

Rev. Wesley Smith, the son of Joshua Smith and 
his wife, Mary Anderson, wrote a family history to 
which I am indebted for much family history that 
appears in this booklet. 



118 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY, 



SECTION XXII. 



Joshua Smith, and Mary, his wife, had born to them 
twelve children. Two of them died in childhood — a 
son and a daughter. The other ten reared highly 
respected families in the South and West. Of these 
ten there were seven sons and three daughters. 

Patience Bland, daughter of Joshua Smith and his 
wife, Mary Anderson, was born October 24, 1797. She 
was a granddaughter of Nancy Anderson, nee Ste- 
phenson, one of the Four. She received a liberal edu- 
cation. She was always neat in her appearance, indus- 
trious and self-reliant, and quite intelligent. She was 
not foolishly proud, but worked with her own hands in 
order that she could appear in any society without 
expense to her family. Her father moved to Robertson 
County, Tennessee, when she was a child. She mar- 
ried Davis Gurley, Esq., of Tennessee, in 1823. As 
useful and domestic as she was in young womanhood, 
it was reserved to her matronhood to shine brilliantly. 
She lived to have the care of a very large household, 
both of children and negro slaves. But she was always 
equal to the task over which Providence and a good 
husband had placed her. Mr. Gurley bought land and 
opened up a farm one mile west from Leighton, Ala- 
bama, in 1823. Davis Gurley was for many years a 
justice of the peace. He was an upright, honorable 
man, a fine, intelligent farmer. He accumulated a 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY 



119 




Mrs. Davis Gurley, nee Patience Bland Smith, late of 
Waco, Texas, aged 86 years, daughter of Mary Ander- 
son and Joshua Smith; and her youngest granddaugh- 
ter, Eliza Earle Gurley, aged one year. 



120 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

fortune in land and negroes. He and his wife were 
consistent members of the Methodist Church. They 
were noted in their neighborhood for their leniency 
to their slaves. Their negro slaves had such a home 
with their master and mistress as they have never 
had since they were free, and no one knows this fact 
so well as the old slaves do. They reared a family of 
sons and daughters. The children were well educated, 
They are among the best people in the country. The 
family moved to Waco, Texas, in 1853. 

Col. Edwards Jeremiah Gurley, oldest son of Davis 
Gurley, commanded a regiment of soldiers in the Con- 
federate army. He is a lawyer, but has retired from 
practice, and lives in comfort at Gurley, a railroad 
town below Waco, in Falls County. He employs his 
time in looking after the interest of his large estate. 

James Henry, son of Davis Gurley and his wife, 
Patience Bland Smith, was born in Alabama. He was 
educated at LaGrange College, married in Waco, 
Texas; was master of Waco Masonic Lodge, Number 
92. He has a son in Waco, George B. Gurley, who is an 
only child. He is city engineer. J. H. Gurley died 
comparatively young. During the year 1871, Waco 
Lodge, Number 92, having grown so as to be unwieldy, 
a new lodge was organized and chartered. It was 
named in honor of a deceased master of Waco Lodge, 
Number 92, J. H. Gurley Lodge, Number 337. 

Davis Robert Gurley, the youngest child of Davis 
Gurley and his wife, Patience Bland Smith, was born 
near Leighton, Alabama, and educated in the Wesleyan 
University, Florence, Alabama. He graduated with 
the class of 1857. On his return to his father's home 
in Texas he volunteered for the State frontier service. 
When the war of the States began he went into the 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 121 

Confederate service. He filled many high official sta- 
tions with honor and distinction. He was adjutant- 
general at the close of the war. He is a farmer with 
ample means. He lives at his country plantation just 
below and adjoining the city of Waco. Davis Gurley 
married Miss Lutie Earle, in 1865. They reared an 
interesting family. It has been a happy household. 
Much attention has been given by Captain Gurley 
and his wife to the education and domestic training 
of their intelligent children. The facilities for an edu- 
cation at Waco are very good. Probably no place af- 
fords better schools and colleges. The city is known 
over the State as the " Athens of Texas." The Gurleys 
have reaped, and are yet reaping, the full benefit of 
such grand opportunities. Some of his children are 
married and living in Waco. One daughter, Mary 
Azalete, married Dr. C. C. McCulloch, who holds high 
rank as surgeon in the United States Army. Of course, 
he goes where his services are thought to be most 
needed. They are now stationed at Fort Meade, South 
Dakota. Mrs. McCullock is a very intelligent, edu- 
cated lady, a loving wife and devoted mother. 

Joe Taylor, Esq., one of the leading lawyers of 
Waco, is a grandson of Davis and Mrs. Patience 
Gurley. 

Nancy Agnes, daughter of Joshua Smith and his 
wife, Mary Anderson, was born in South Carolina in 
1799. She married Cornelius Carmack. They reared 
a family in Lauderdale County, Alabama, where Mr. 
Carmack was well and favorably known. He was 
fond of politics, an able debater, a natural poet and 
orator. In his early life he had no opportunities for 
obtaining an education. But he had a vigorous and 
retentive memory. He moved to Tishomingo County, 



122 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Mississippi, served in the State legislature and was 
president of the State Constitutional Convention when 
he died. 

Francis McMillan Carmack, son of Cornelius Car- 
mack and his wife, Nancy Agnes Smith, married 
Elvira (Kate) Holding. Edward W. Carmack, son of 
Frances McMillan Carmack, is a United State senator 
from Tennessee. He is an able debater and a leader 
of the Democratic party. 

Robert Anderson, son of William Anderson, the 
Revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Nancy Stephen- 
son, one of the Four, married Miss Jane Barber in 
South Carolina and moved west, and settled in Giles 
County, Tennessee, where they reared a large and 
worthy family. Their descendants of to-day are among 
the most respected and honored citizens of Giles 
County, Tennessee. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 



123 



SECTION XXIII. 



Robert Barber Anderson, son of William Anderson, 
grandson of Robert Anderson, late of Giles County, 
Tennessee, and great-grandson of William Anderson, 
of Revolutionary memory, 
and his wife, Nancy Ste- 
phenson, of South Carolina, 
was born March 13, 1840. 
He lives in Cnester County, 
South Carolina, on an ex- 
tensive plantation near 
Richburg. He is a success- 
ful farmer, a very popular, 
good humored man — a man 
who to be known is to be 
admired for his charity, in- 
dustry and Christian vir- 
tues. He has been twice 
married. His present wife 
was a Miss Barber, a rela- 
tive. She is a noble, good 
woman, a lenient and painstaking stepmother. She 
and her husband have no children. They are leading 
members of the Mount Prospect Southern Methodist 
Church. There were born unto Mr. Anderson and his 
first wife four children, three sons and one daughter. 
Joseph, the oldest son, was graduated from a South 




Anderson, Esq., 
South Carolina. 



124 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

Carolina college last June. Robert Edward is well 
educated, but is a natural farmer. He is of much 
value to his father in the management of his large 
farms. Porter, the third son, is in Wofford College, 
South Carolina. Mr. Anderson's daughter, Lena, mar- 
ried Rev. J. W. Neely. 

Robert B. Anderson has a very singular war record. 
I suppose there is not now living a single veteran of 
the Lost Cause with a record like his. His record was 
good, but that is not its singularity, for thousands of 
others had as good a record for bravery and gallantry 
as could be made. But the singularity in his case con- 
sists in the fact that he was at the firing of the first 
gun on Fort Sumter, April 9, 1861. He was a witness 
of the surrender of General Anderson at Fort Sumter, 
saw him and his staff taken to the guard-house in 
Charleston. He was in the first and second battles at 
Manassas and in all the battles in Virginia. He was 
sent over to Chattanooga in time to be in the battle of 
Chickamauga; then he marched through East Tennes- 
see to Virginia to his regular field of fighting and was 
on foot, with his gun in hand, at the surrender at 
Appomattox. He says he could do it again; but he 
does not want to. Where is the other Confederate 
soldier who was at the firing of the first gun at Fort 
Sumter and at the surrender at Appomattox? Echo 
comes from the silent grave, Where! Robert Barber 
Anderson, of Chester County, stands alone in that 
respect. 

This family is worthy of its noble and patriotic an- 
cestry. William H. Anderson a prominent citizen of 
Giles County, Tennessee, is a brother of the late Rev. 
J. B. Anderson of the Tennessee Conference. They 
were two of thirteen brothers and sisters. 



THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 125 

Col. William Anderson, son of William Anderson, of 
Revolutionary memory, and his wife, Nancy Stephen- 
son, one of the Four, married Miss Cherry, of South 
Carolina. They reared a highly respected family in 
the county in which he was born. He never left 
South Carolina. Colonel Anderson 'was a valuable 
and useful citizen of the community in which he lived. 
He was colonel of a regiment in the war of 1812. 
His granddaughter, Miss Maggie M. Anderson, daugh- 
, ter of Dr. Daniel Green Anderson, late of South Caro- 
! lina, is now (November, 1905) the only living child 
of Dr. D. G. Anderson. Miss Maggie M. Anderson 
owns and lives on the old plantation of her father on 
Fishing Creek, near Fort Lawn. 

Robert B. Anderson and I had the pleasure, last July, 
| of visiting Miss Maggie at her home. I found her not 
i only a very intellectual and cultured woman, but also 
i a most excellent cook and hostess. She manages her 
I estate well, and always has on hand some one, or more, 
j to take care of and provide for. "It is better to give 
j than to receive." I am told that is what the boy said 
I when he struck his playmate. She is fond of souvenirs 
I and old keep-sakes. She showed to me the sword her 
, grandfather, William Anderson, wore in the war of 
| 1812, when he was commander of a regiment. She 
j has the old, time-stained deed, by which the land on 
j which her grandfather lived, was conveyed from the 
i crown of England, in 1763, to an American subject. 
J She is a most excellent little lady. 

Gober Anderson, a nephew of Miss Maggie, lives 
on and owns the old plantation of her grandfather. 
The residence is the same one built more than a 
hundred years ago, except that some additions have 
been made. Mr. Anderson is a scientific farmer, has 



126 THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 

good land and keeps it good by taking good care of it, 1 
judiciously using fertilizers. He makes good crops. 
He is a highly respected citizen. He has a most ex- 
cellent wife and beautiful children. They are noble 
descendants of well known ancestors. They are a 
happy family. 

FINIS. 



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